The 89th edition of the Masters teed off on Thursday, so let’s take a look at some takeaways from the opening round action.
Another brutal opening round for Rory McIlroy
The day started off great for McIlroy. On the 15th tee, he was 4-under, near the top of the leaderboard and put his drive right into the middle of the fairway. He seemed to finally be reversing his trend of brutal opening rounds at the Masters.
Then it all fell apart.
He finished with two double-bogeys in a three-hole stretch to end the day even.
It is the sixth time in his past seven Masters that he has not finished below par in the first round.
That is not a good way to position yourself for the green jacket.
Justin Rose in a familiar spot
When it comes to first rounds at the Masters, Rose is the anti-McIlroy.
Even though Rose has never won the green jacket, he has still had considerable success over the years at Augusta. He is consistently finished among the top-25, he was a runner-up in 2015 and 2017 and he has consistently found himself as the leader at the end of several rounds.
That was the case again on Thursday when he came in at 7-under to open up a three-stroke lead over the rest of the field.
This is not unfamiliar territory for Rose, as he has always dominated the Thursday round.
The question is going to be whether or not he can sustain it over the next three days and do the one thing he has yet to do — actually win it.
First impressions are everything
The problem with first impressions is you only get to make one of them, so you better make it worth it.
Amateur Jose Luis Ballester certainly did that on Thursday — and not with his play.
Ballester, who golfs at Arizona State, made some waves with fans by wearing an Arizona State Sun Devils hat that had “Sun Devils” written upside down. This was viewed by many as a faux pas in the setting and seemingly against the standards for decorum and attire.
But the hat was only the sub-plot for his other bold move when he decided to take a bathroom break Rae’s Creek, later admitting he forgot there were bathrooms next to the 13th tee.
He received a round of applause from the fans who saw him and added that he was not embarrassed and would do it again if he had to.
He ended up going 4-over par for the round.
Nick Dunlap’s brutal day
Not only is Dunlap at the bottom of the leaderboard after the first round, but he had what has to be one of the worst rounds in tournament history. He finished 18-over by shooting a 90 for the day and is 11 strokes behind the next-lowest player on the leaderboard.
It was a historically bad day.
Fred Couples shows age is just a number
It was just two years ago that Couples became the oldest player ever to make the cut at the Masters.
He is still going strong this season and became the second-oldest player (65) to shoot under par in any Masters round.
He finished the day 1-under.
Couples said after his round, via ESPN’s Paolo Uggetti:
“Today is a hell of a round. I am exhausted,” Couples said. “I can play golf. I can play around here. If the weather is like this and not hard, I can — as long as I don’t do crazy things — I can shoot 73 or 4 or 5. That’s not embarrassing myself at all.”
He finished the day ahead of some of the highest-ranked players in the world. That is a very strong start.
