AUGUSTA, Ga. – Cigar smoke swirled, sundresses whipped, hats flew off heads, and the best golfers in the world had to battle the windiest of days at Augusta National Thursday.
After a two-and-a-half-hour delay due to overnight storms, the first round of the 88th Masters began – and the fight was on. Winds were sustained at about 25 kilometres per hour, with gusts hitting nearly 50.
“It feels like I’ve just gone 12 rounds against Mike Tyson,” said 2017 Masters winner Sergio Garcia.
Of the guys in the field who probably could step into a boxing ring and hold their ground, the two at the top of the leaderboard after the first day certainly fit the physical bill.
Bryson DeChambeau leads after a 7-under 65, his lowest career round at Augusta National. And then there’s Scottie Scheffler again, one shot back after a 6-under 66.
DeChambeau, now part of LIV Golf, had his ‘bulky’ phase and his ‘mad scientist’ phase over the last few years. Now, he said, things are simpler.
“I’d say the golf phase for sure. Trying to be the best golfer I can be,” DeChambeau said.
The winner of the 2020 U.S. Open, DeChambeau is now the captain of Crushers GC on the rival circuit. He leads LIV Golf in driving distance and is sixth in greens in regulation, and his team won back-to-back titles earlier this season.
DeChambeau, however, has never been a threat at Augusta National. You need to be more of an artist around this place, and he leans more towards science. He has just one top-25 finish in seven Masters starts (which came when he was an amateur) and has missed the cut the last two years.
Thursday, though, DeChambeau got off to as ideal start as possible, making birdies on Nos. 1-3. He bogeyed the par-4 9th before making five birdies on the back nine, including another run of three in a row on Nos. 15-17. He did this with a set of irons, according to Golfweek, that are 3-D printed and were only approved as conforming to golf’s rules by the United States Golf Association on Monday.
“I knew it was going to be a tough day today with the wind,” DeChambeau said. “In order to win major championships, you’ve got to – especially out here – you’ve got to do everything well.”
Added Garcia, who is also a captain of a team on the LIV circuit, DeChambeau scored well but he also lucked out with his timing.
“Playing well is not enough to shoot 7-under. You have to play well, and you have to hit the ball at the exact moment where the wind is doing what you’re guessing it’s going to do,” Garcia said.
Scheffler, the 2022 Masters winner, managed to get around Augusta National without making a bogey doing exactly that, saying his caddie, Ted Scott, was good at “guessing” the wind on Thursday.
He hit 12 of 14 fairways and just 13 of 18 greens but scrambled as well as anyone when he needed to – including pitching in from the bunker on the par-3 12th.
Given his body of work in 2024 – including two straight victories and nearly a third earlier this season – the only person who may be able to stop him this week isn’t DeChambeau, but his wife Meredith. The pair are expecting their first child in a few weeks and Scheffler said if she does go into labour early, he would withdraw.
There were no worries on the home front after Thursday and at the golf course, Scheffler said he was pleased with all aspects of his game. Rory McIlroy, who was grouped with the world No. 1, said Scheffler does a great job of shooting a number that doesn’t look all that low, classifying his effort as “efficient.” Shooting a bogey-free round, McIlroy said, at the frequency Scheffler does, is the key to winning big-time golf tournaments.
“I wasn’t really thinking too much about my score out there. I mean, it’s the first day of the tournament. Like I said, I was just trying to hit good shots and stay patient out there. You cannot force yourself into making birdies around this golf course. It just doesn’t really lend itself to that, especially with the high winds,” Scheffler said. “And so, I mean, I saw that (DeChambeau) shot 7-under, and I thought to myself, ‘Wow, that’s a really good round of golf,’ and I kind of put my head down and focused on what I was doing.”
Each of the last 18 winners of the Masters were tied for 11th or better after the first round, and, after Thursday at Augusta National, that group includes a Canadian.
Corey Conners fired a 2-under 70 and will head into Friday tied for ninth. Conners opened with a three-putt bogey on the par-4 1st (“Three putt on the first hole wasn’t the best way to start the day,” he said with a smile) but rattled off three straight birdies on the front nine, starting by sticking his tee ball on the par-3 6th to a foot or so. He bogeyed the par-4 14th but did the same thing on the par-3 16th as No. 6, hitting his tee shot to, again, about two feet.
Conners, who had three straight top-10s at the Masters before missing the cut last year, said it felt good to be back at a place where he’s got a solid plan to play well. It was no surprise Conners was happy with his tee-to-green game – and doing that solidly, he said, makes things easier at Augusta National.
“I try and normalize the week as much as possible, as special of a week as it is. Just try and go through my routine, stick to the plan. But it felt good to get off to a solid start and hit a number of quality shots,” Conners said. “It’s certainly a long way to go. I feel like I’ve put myself in situations before and learned some lessons. I feel like I’ve got a lot of belief in my game. It’s out of my control what the other guys do. I’ve got a good plan to try and do my best.”
The rest of the Canadian contingent didn’t fare as well as Conners, all finishing over par on Thursday. Mike Weir shot a 2-over 74 after a three-putt bogey on 18. Adam Hadwin was a shot worse after a 3-over 75.
Nick Taylor, in his first round at a “real” Masters (he made his debut in 2020 in the tournament hosted in November) struggled to a 5-over 77.
While the atmosphere – playing in front of patrons and family – was great, Taylor’s play left a little to be desired. Due to inexperience, he admitted, he struggled with the putter.
“I had a really hard time on the greens,” said Taylor, who had three three-putts. “That was frustrating because speed wasn’t very good, missed a handful of putts inside six, eight feet. I drove it well enough. I probably should have been around even, maybe at least 1- or 2-over and just scored terribly, so that was frustrating.”
The wind made Thursday tough on a lot of fronts. DeChambeau and Scheffler made it look easy. A Canadian is within shouting distance of the lead. And it’s set to be a long Friday to see who will find the weekend.
“I shot 65 today, and that was one of the best rounds of golf I’ve played in a long time,” DeChambeau, the overnight leader, said. “There’s three more days to go, and I’m not losing sight of that fact – that it’s right there in front of me. Just got to go execute.”
The first round was suspended at 7:51 p.m. ET and will resume at 7:50 a.m. Friday. The second round will begin at 8 a.m.
