Getting through Amen Corner unscathed is all good and well, but it’s not as though Augusta National is short of teeth elsewhere. Erik van Rooyen follows up the bogey at 14 with another dropped stroke at 15, and suddenly a promising round threatens to get away from the South African. Danny Willett meanwhile drops a shot at 14, and as the top of the leader board thins out a tad, it’s beginning to look as though the wind is causing a few issues out there.
-5: Fox (11) -3: DeChambeau (12), An (10) -2: Van Rooyen (16), Conners (12)
A couple of hot pre-tournament tips are struggling early doors. Xander Schauffele has dropped his second stroke of the day, this time at the par-three 4th; like the Californian, the 2021 champion Hideki Matsuyama has also bogeyed 1 and 4. They’re both +2. Meanwhile Rory McIlroy is required to make an eight-footer for par on 5 to remain at +1.
Lefty’s hit the turn in 35 strokes, having followed up his bounce-back birdie at 3 with another at 8. That’s a fine response by the 53-year-old legend to a cold start. He’s -1.
Rory McIlroy can’t make his par putt at 4. It never looked like dropping, clearly heading left of the target from the get-go. That’s three poor efforts already, after extremely average misses at 1 and 2. The flat stick looks cold.
Remember the double bogey made by debutant Austin Eckroat on the opening hole? The 25-year-old Oklahoman followed that by dropping another stroke at 5, whereupon a long day stretched out in front of him. But you don’t win on the PGA Tour without being made of the right stuff, and look how he’s bounced back! An eagle at 8, the reward for cracking his second from 253 yards over the green, then holing out from the fringe at the back. Then birdies at 11 and 13, and all of a sudden he’s into the red numbers at -1! Meanwhile Bryson DeChambeau moves back to -3 after knocking his tee shot at the testing 12th pin high, then rolling in the 12-footer for birdie.
The reigning US Open champion Wyndham Clark is on debut at the Masters this week. He’s making himself at home already, a quick learner. Having sent his tee shot at 3 into the patrons to the right of the green, he manufactures a low trundle down a bank and through a swale to five feet, then calmly holes the right-to-left slider. He’s -1. Meanwhile bogey for An Byeong-hun at 9, and suddenly Ryan Fox has a two-stroke lead.
-5: Fox (10) -3: Van Rooyen (14), An (9) -2: Moore (13), Willett (13), DeChambeau (11), Conners (10)
The wind is causing some of the world’s best players all sorts of distance issues. Jon Rahm lands his ball a couple of yards short of the ridge across the 5th green; he’ll have a long two putts for par as opposed to a look at birdie. Meanwhile on the par-three 4th, Rory McIlroy watches in disbelief as his tee shot holds up in the wind and drops into the bunker. He splashes out to ten feet and will have a chance of saving par.
The defending champion Jon Rahm hasn’t played too much competitive golf lately. A little rust betrays him as a short par putt on 4 horseshoes out. Back to level par. Meanwhile so much for Erik van Rooyen relaxing after navigating Amen Corner without problems; he drops a stroke at 14 to slip to -3. And it’s a bounceback birdie for Rory McIlroy, getting up and down from a swale to the side of the short par-four 3rd. He’s back to level par … and may be further buoyed by his playing partner Scottie Scheffler missing a short birdie effort that would have taken him to -2.
Jon Rahm has started slowly in the defence of his Masters’ title. Photograph: Brian Snyder/Reuters
A little bit of separation at the top of the leader board. An Byeong-hun birdies the par-five 8th, while Thorbjorn Olesen follows his back-to-back birdies at 8 and 9 with bogey at 10. A windy Amen Corner coming up too. Erik van Rooyen will be delighted to be through it already.
-5: Fox (8) -4: Van Rooyen (13), An (8) -2: Willett (12), Olesen (10), DeChambeau (10), Conners (9)
There are 46 players on the course right now. Only 14 of them are over par. Rory McIlroy isn’t the only big name among that group. Also +1 early in their rounds: Tony Finau (7), Joaquin Niemann (6), Patrick Cantlay (5), Rickie Fowler (5) and Xander Schauffele (2). Min Woo Lee meanwhile is +3 through 5. The wind is slowly picking up as well.
Back on 2, Scottie Scheffler teases in a right-to-left birdie putt from ten feet. If that putter is even just tepid, the rest of the field may as well pack up and go home already. The early signs for the 2022 champ are good. Meanwhile on 3, Jon Rahm gets up and down from a greenside bunker to move into red figures for the first time. The big boys on the move, both up to -1. As for Rory McIlroy, he can’t get up and down from the back of 2, and becomes only the second player so far today to drop a stroke at a par-five currently playing 0.1 below its historical average at 4.68. He’s +1.
Birdie for Erik van Rooyen at 13! He moves to -4. But he’s not leading this tournament. That’s because back on the previous par-five, the 8th, Ryan Fox makes the first eagle of the week! He creams his second from 236 yards to 23 feet, then rattles in the putt. All change at the top!
-5: Fox (8) -4: Van Rooyen (13) -3: Olesen (9), An (7) -2: Willett (11), DeChambeau (9), Conners (8)
Bryson DeChambeau takes his first misstep of the day. Bogey at 9 and he falls out of the leading group. His place at the top is taken by his playing partner Thorbjorn Olesen – another Manchester United fan, taking the role of Kobbie Mainoo to Rory’s Harry Maguire. OK, I promise to stop this now. The 34-year-old Dane is -3 … but there’s no point me putting up another leader board with Olesen atop it, because there’s been some big movement … stay with us …
Bryson DeChambeau drops a shot on the 9th. Photograph: Erik S Lesser/EPA
“I’m a big Gunners fan, they’re playing well … I’m a big Arsenal fan.” Butch Harmon there, responding to Sky Sports trailing this weekend’s televised Premier League offering. “I used to like Butch Harmon,” replies diehard Liverpool supporter Laura Davies. Meanwhile Manchester United fan Rory McIlroy channels his modern-era favourites by flaying his tee shot at 2 into the trees down the right. He nearly hits Scottie Scheffler’s caddie as he hacks back out low, then flies a hot wedge over the green and into the patrons. If he’s lucky, he’ll have a putt from the fringe coming back.
Matt Fitzpatrick blooters his second at the downhill par-five 2nd over the back of the green. A gentle chip back up leaves a five-footer for birdie, and he walks that in for his first birdie of the week. He’s -1. Another par meanwhile for Jon Rahm. Meanwhile bogey for Christo Lamprecht at 9 and now there are only four players in a tie for the early lead.
-3: Van Rooyen (12), DeChambeau (8), Fox (7), An (6) -2: Willett (10), Lamprecht -a- (9), Olesen (8) -1: De La Fuente -a- (11), Jaeger (10), Conners (7), English (6), Straka (6), Henley (5), Zalatoris (3), Thomas (3), Fitzpatrick (2)
Danny Willett gets out of position coming down 10 and leaves himself a 25-foot left-to-right slider across the back of 10 for par. He nearly makes it, but the ball dies to the right on its last turn. The 2016 champ drops back to -2. Meanwhile An Byeong-hun bounces back from bogey at 5 with birdie at the par-three 6th. He rejoins the leaders at -3.
“Hallelujah!” A member of the gallery testifies as Rory McIlroy belts his opening drive down the middle of the 1st. He wedges his second to six feet, leaving an uphill birdie chance, but pulls his putt and shakes his head sadly. A big chance for a quick start passes the 2011 nearly man by. Still, that’s better than the bogey suffered by his playing partner Xander Schauffele. Par for the third member of this marquee group, the pre-tournament favourite Scottie Scheffler.
Rahm takes two putts for his par on 1. That’s two fewer than last year, and look what happened after that. Meanwhile Christo Lamprecht, who won the low-amateur medal at the Open at Hoylake last summer, adds birdie at 8 to earlier ones at 2 and 6 to join the leaders. No amateur has ever won the Masters, though Ken Venturi should have in 1956. More on Venturi’s final-day 80 (admittedly as a framing device for the story of his US Open win) below.
-3: Van Rooyen (11), Willett (9), Lamprecht -a- (8), DeChambeau (7), Fox (6) -2: An (5)
A careless approach at 1 by Jon Rahm. From the centre of the fairway, he lands his wedge well short of the flag, the ball nearly spinning back off the front and into a bunker. The fringe saves his blushes. Rahm peers inquisitively into the sky, the brisk breeze having done for him there perhaps. Meanwhile his playing partner Matt Fitzpatrick takes 0.0000000013 of a second to take his medicine and hit a chip out from the trees, before giving himself a chance to save par by equally speedily sending a crisp wedge to six feet. In goes the putt. What a save. No faff, no nonsense, super quick, you have to love the way Fitz gets on with it. All other golfers, of all stripe and ability, please take note. Shorthand if you have it.
The defending champion takes to the first tee. Jon Rahm’s opening shot of his defence is a 3-wood, and he larrups it down the right-hand side of the fairway. He’s going round this afternoon with the 2023 US Open champion Matt Fitzpatrick, who finished tied for tenth last year. Not the ideal start for the 29-year-old from Sheffield, as he pulls one into the trees down the left. In fact that’s nearly on the 9th fairway. Meanwhile bogey for Sergio at 5 and he’s back to level par.
Jon Rahm, Matt Fitzpatrick, and Nick Dunlap walk down the fairway on the opening hole. Photograph: Mike Segar/Reuters
Danny Willett joins the leading bunch with birdie at the par-five 8th. He’s on the fringe in two and nearly drains the long eagle putt. Meanwhile Phil Mickelson’s competitive juices are still flowing despite that cold start: birdie at the short par-four 3rd and the three-time winner, last year’s surprise joint runner-up after that final round of 65, is level par again.
The honorary start. Twenty minutes before Erik van Rooyen hit the first competitive stroke of the 2024 Masters, the legendary trio of Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus and Tom Watson took their ceremonial tee shots. Between them: 246 years, 11 Masters. All three sent their little dappled orbs down Tea Olive to great cheer; Player, the oldest of the three at 88 but the youngest at heart, followed his shot with an elegant swivel and high kick that would pop out the hip of many a man half his age.
Welcome back Sergio! We’ve missed you. The 2017 champ flayed his opening tee shot into the trees down the left of 1, but clipped his second greenside and managed to get up and down from the bottom of the swale to save par. Now at 4 he knocks his tee shot to seven feet, the best of the day so far, and tidies up for birdie. He’s -1 and let’s not get carried away yet. Meanwhile An Byeong-hun, who has missed the cut here three times in four visits, becomes the third player to open with three birdies. He joins a bunch at the top that also includes Erik van Rooyen, who tickles home a putt from off the back of 9, up over a ridge and then down a treacherous slope. The 33-year-old South African turns in 33.
-3: Van Rooyen (9), DeChambeau (5), Fox (4), An (3) -2: Knapp (9), Willett (7), Lamprecht -a- (6)
Sergio Garcia and his lovely trousers at the 2nd hole. Photograph: Mike Blake/Reuters
Ryan Fox is making just his second appearance at the Masters at the age of 37. He’s making up for an awful lot of lost time, replicating Bryson DeChambeau’s birdie-birdie-birdie opening blitz. Meanwhile DeChambeau drains a putt from 25 feet to save par at 5, while Danny Willett makes a magnificent left-to-right breaker from off the back of 7, around the shoulder of a bunker, to regain the shot he dropped at 5. It’s all happening!
-3: DeChambeau (5), Fox (3) -2: Van Rooyen (8), Willett (7), Lamprecht -a- (6), An (2) -1: Knapp (8), Olesen (5), Finau (2)
Here’s a reminder of how Jon Rahm won the Masters last year. He ended the week four strokes clear of Brooks Koepka and Phil Mickelson, the latter having played the back nine in 31 strokes, one of the great Sunday charges, albeit ultimately futile. You can bet your bottom dollar Lefty will still back himself for a fourth green jacket, even if he’s now 53 years old, though he’s not started well this time round. Bogey at the opening hole, after failing to get up and down from just off the front of the green. Still, there are slow starts and slow starts: Rahm four-putted the 1st last year. So all is not yet lost.
As for the weather that caused this morning’s delayed start, there’s much more in the way of good news than bad. The really horrible stuff has come and gone, though there could be more rain later this afternoon. A chance of isolated thunderstorms, too, but fingers crossed they’ll give the area the swerve. The 40mph winds that were forecast never arrived, though it is breezy now and the gusts could further pick up later. The rest of the week, though, is all good. Sunny and windy tomorrow; sunny and warm over the weekend. Arnold Palmers all round!
There are 13 LIV golfers at Augusta National this week. The reigning champion Jon Rahm heads a list of talent that also includes former winners in Sergio Garcia, Dustin Johnson, Phil Mickelson, Patrick Reed, Charl Schwartzel and Bubba Watson. That’s a lot of green wool. The first of the big LIV names out this morning is Bryson DeChambeau, and he’s absolutely flown out of the traps with birdies on the first three holes. Darts thrown into 1 and 3, a chip up to kick-in distance from the back of 2. He’s our new leader. Danny Willett meanwhile bogeys 5 and from a share of the lead, slips to two behind in the blink of an eye.
-3: DeChambeau (3) -2: Van Rooyen (7) -1: Willett (5), Lamprecht -a- (4), Olesen (3), Stubbs -a- (2), Fox (1), An (1)
(For the record II: the other LIV golfers here this week are Tyrrell Hatton, Brooks Koepka, Adrian Meronk, Joaquin Niemann and Cameron Smith.)
Austin Eckroat is one of 20 players making their Masters debut this week. The 25-year-old from Oklahoma, who won his first PGA Tour event at Palm Beach Gardens last month, will have dreamt of teeing off at Tea Olive all his life. And when he finally gets to live that dream … he hooks one into the pines down the left. A double to start, and it won’t get any easier.
For the record, the 19 other debutants are: Ludvig Aberg, Akshay Bhatia, Wyndham Clark, Eric Cole, Santiago de la Fuente, Nick Dunlap, Ryo Hisatsune, Lee Hodges, Nicolai Hojgaard, Stephan Jaeger, Jake Knapp, Christo Lamprecht, Peter Malnati, Denny McCarthy, Grayson Murray, Matthieu Pavon, Adam Schenk, Neal Shipley and Jasper Stubbs. There are nine PGA Tour winners among that lot.
Here we go then, fellow golf friends and lovers. Time to unwrap the green paper from a pimento cheese sandwich, pour yourself a long cool glass of iced tea, suck absent mindedly on a Georgia Peach Ice Cream Sandwich, and settle down on the porch. It’s on!
… and Thursday morning’s big news is a fast start for the surprise 2016 champion Danny Willett. Out in the second group, he carded the first birdie of the week at 1, then added a second after knocking his approach at 3 from 130 yards to five feet. He’s joined at the top of our first leader board by Erik van Rooyen, who follows birdie at 3 with another at 6.
-2: Van Rooyen (6), Willett (4) -1: Moore (4), Lamprecht -a- (2), DeChambeau (1)
Former champion Danny Willett acknowledges the crowd on 3 green after making a birdie. Photograph: Brian Snyder/Reuters
Welcome, patrons, to the 88th edition of the Masters Tournament. Cellphones and other devices with recording and/or transmission capabilities are prohibited, no autograph requests on the course, do not run.
So will Jon Rahm become the first player since Tiger Woods in 2002, and only the fourth in history, to win back-to-back tournaments? Will hot favourite Scottie Scheffler pull on the Green Jacket for a second time? Will Hideki Matsuyama, Jordan Spieth or Dustin Johnson do it again? Will Rory McIlroy, Xander Schauffele, Brooks Koepka, Shane Lowry or Viktor Hovland break through? Will Rickie Fowler become the first winner of the par-three contest to go on to win the main event? Will Ludvig Aberg, Wyndham Clark or Akshay Bhatia become the first debutant to win since Fuzzy Zoeller in 1979? Will Zalatoris?
Other players are also available, but there’s little point in talking about all of that right now. You see, Erik van Rooyen was due to hit the first shot in anger this morning at 8am local time, 1pm in the UK. But the weather’s closed in on Augusta National, and play has been delayed until 10.30am (3.30pm BST). You can find the updated tee times here. This hole-by-hole report will get rolling at 5pm BST, after which we’ll be blogging ♫♪ all day looooooonng ♫♪ ; until then, here’s the famous CBS theme on a one-hour loop and a retro report to get you in the mood. See you soon!
