Round 1 review: The Masters Tournament

A look at some of the big stories from Thursday’s first round of the Masters Tournament.

THE LEADERS

Three players – Jon Rahm, Viktor Hovland and Brooks Koepka – are tied atop the leaderboard after shooting 65 on Thursday. But how they ended up there was remarkably different.

Hovland led for much of the morning thanks to a front-nine 31. He holed a 25-foot eagle putt on the par-5 second hole and stuffed it close for birdies on the par-3 sixth and par-4 ninth. Then on the 11th he rammed home a 37-foot birdie. Mixed in was a supreme showcase of scrambling that kept bogeys off his card. Hovland missed the eighth green left but chipped to 10 feet and converted the birdie putt. An errant approach shot on the 10th left Hovland right of the greenside bunker with an uneven stance. Hovland knocked it to 4 feet and saved par. He short-sided himself again on the 18th hole but hit his shot from the right greenside bunker to 8 feet and made par. He was 5-for-5 in sand saves.

The ideal start from Hovland was not shared by Rahm, who walked onto the first green facing a 40-foot birdie putt and left with a double-bogey 6.

If a reminder was needed of all the trouble that lurks at Augusta National, Rahm’s four-putt provided it early Thursday morning. But what he did next showcased how quickly fortunes can turn at this course.

The Spaniard’s play over the next 17 holes was reminiscent of the dominant display he put on earlier this year, when he won three PGA TOUR titles in five starts to sit atop the FedExCup standings and the world ranking. Rahm played the final 17 holes of Thursday’s round in 9 under par, carding an eagle at the eighth and seven birdies to revive his round.

“If you can somehow make it through the first 6 1/2 holes, and what I mean is putting the ball in the fairway on 7, and you're around even par, I think it's a pretty good start,” Rahm said. “So if you can get through that, you have a short iron into 7, 8, 9 to maybe make some birdies and maybe get the round going. I was able to do that and took advantage of it the rest of the day.”

After running his birdie putt 8 feet by the first hole, he missed the comebacker and the 5-footer for bogey. A result that could normally derail a player’s chances seemed to re-focus Rahm. The No. 3 player in the world hit his second shot on the par-5 second hole to 14 feet and two-putted for birdie. He got back to even with a birdie on the par-4 third, hitting a 332-yard drive that left him just 17 yards from the hole. Then on the seventh, Rahm, who ranks 12th in Strokes Gained: Putting this season, converted on a birdie putt from just off the green, about 20 feet from the hole. The shot of the day came on the par-5 eighth. Rahm stuck his second shot from 249 yards to just 4 feet, landing the ball on the front of the green and letting it feed all the way to the back-right pin location. He made the putt for eagle, his ninth at the Masters since 2017 and most of any player in that time frame.

He added birdies on both second nine par-5s, 13 and 15, then made an 11-foot birdie on 16 and hit his approach on 18 to 3 feet to close the round with one more birdie.

Then there’s Koepka, who slowly moved his way up the leaderboard through the afternoon. He birdied both par-5s on the first nine and added two more birdies on the third and seventh holes. His lone bogey of the day came at the par-5 13th when hit his ball into the left trees. That didn’t seem to fluster the four-time major champion though as Koepka bounced back with birdies on 15, 17 and 18 to close out his round.

The trio of Rahm, Hovland and Koepka hold a two-shot lead over a Cameron Young and Jason Day.

THE STORYLINES

Woods opens in 2-over 74: Tiger Woods arrived at his 25th Masters with the intent of contending for his sixth green jacket, but also realistic about the condition of his legs in traversing Augusta National’s hills. Thursday’s opening round brought a mixed bag; Woods rallied from a 3-over start through seven holes to post 2-over 74, well within striking distance of the cut line, but also described his right leg as “sore” and the pain as “constant” after his round.

Woods finished the day nine strokes off the pace of his playing partner Hovland, but he was buoyed slightly by vintage Woods birdies at Nos. 15 and 16, and he remained optimistic in his chances to card some low numbers later in the week.

“Hopefully tomorrow I'll be a little bit better, a little bit sharper,” Woods said. “This is going to be an interesting finish to the tournament with the weather coming in. If I can just kind of hang in there, maybe kind of inch my way back, hopefully it will be positive towards the end."

Scheffler cards 68 despite uneven putting: Scottie Scheffler seemed vexed on the greens at times Thursday, epitomized by his 10-foot birdie try at the last that narrowly burned the edge.

He opened his Masters title defense with a 4-under 68 anyway.

It’s a testament to Scheffler’s current form, as well as his comfort level around Augusta National, where he four-putted the final hole in 2022 but still won by three strokes.

Last year, Scheffler arrived at Augusta as world No. 1. He came here this year with the same rank. His 68 on Thursday marks the lowest first round by a defending Masters champion since Tiger Woods in 2020, and he has now recorded eight consecutive rounds of par or better at Augusta National, the longest current active streak.

Scheffler needed 32 putts to navigate Augusta National on Thursday, including seven missed birdie putts inside 15 feet. He’s just three off the lead regardless.

If his putter heats up just a bit, that board could shift in a hurry.

“Got a lot of good looks and I thought I was hitting a lot of good putts, just hitting a lot of edges, which happens,” Scheffler said. “These greens are not easy to putt, and you can't expect to make everything. I was doing a good job of controlling my emotions today and staying in check, and I didn't get too frustrated on the greens.”

A stacked leaderboard: A glance down the top 15 on the leaderboard should yield plenty of memories of big moments. Of the 16 players at 3 under par or better, 10 have won major championships. There’s young guns like Rahm (-7), multi-time major champions in Collin Morikawa (-3) and Jordan Spieth (-3) and older players in Adam Scott (-4), Justin Rose (-3) and Jason Day (-5) that are looking to add another after years of waiting.

Among the contenders who haven’t won a major: Hovland, Young, Xander Schauffele, Sam Burns, Tony Finau and U.S. Amateur champion Sam Bennett.

Not bad.

They say the cream rises to the top during major championships. It’s not often it happens after just one round, though. There’s 82 combined professional wins among those 16 players. Which is to say, there’s plenty who know how to close golf tournaments that are ready to battle for a green jacket. It should make for great theater over the next three days, and the weekend weather forecast should only add to the intrigue.

Rory starts slow again: Rory McIlroy would probably skip Thursdays at the Masters if he could. In search of the career Grand Slam, McIlroy struggled once more with an even-par round of 72. McIlroy has not shot under par in the first round at the Masters since 2018.

"I'm probably two or three shots behind how I'd like to be, considering how I played today,” McIlroy said. “I think, if I had gotten the most out of my round, I would have shot 68 or 69. So a few shots back, but nothing that's not insurmountable.”

The five-time major champion called his round “untidy” as he struggled to string together stretches of good play without mistakes. He birdied the second hole but bogeyed the third after his approach shot came up short and he failed to get up and down. McIlroy made a double-bogey on the seventh after he airmailed green, dumped a flop shot in the bunker and then missed his 5-foot bogey putt.

He bounced back with birdies on 8 and 10 to draw back to even par, but a subsequent three-putt on the 11th led to another dropped shot. It looked like McIlroy would register an under-par round after back-to-back birdies on 15 and 16 but an errant drive left on 17 led to his third bogey of the day.

Fred Couples finds old form: The 1992 Masters champion nabbed four birdies on his second nine to post 1-under 71 in the opening round. Couples, 63, is the first player older than 60 to shoot under par since Bernhard Langer in the final round of the 2020 Masters.

It marked a reversal in Couples’ play over recent years. Once a top-20 machine at the Masters, Couples has missed the cut in four consecutive years. Between 2010 and 2017, Couples missed just one cut and finished inside the top 20 every other year.

Couples entered Amen Corner 2 over but made a 12-foot birdie putt on 12 and a 13-foot birdie on 13. He stuck his approach to 4 feet on 15 and converted the birdie putt then made a long putt from off the green on 17 for his last birdie of the day.

“The back nine was really, really good golf, and I putted really, really well on the back nine,” Couples said. “It was like every 8-footer I had or 10-footer, I made.”

The only exception came on 18 when Couples narrowly missed a 39-foot birdie putt and then missed the hole on his 3-foot par putt to close with a bogey.

NOTABLES

Cameron Young (67): Young missed the cut last year in his only Masters appearance. He birdied his first three holes to fuel a stellar opening round. He finished runner-up at the World Golf Championships-Dell Technologies Match Play in his first event with caddie Paul Tesori and now is back in the mix.

Jason Day (67): Five birdies, no bogeys for Day, who missed last year’s Masters after falling outside the top 50 in the world rankings. The Aussie has four career top-10 finishes at this event.

Adam Scott (68): The 2013 Masters champion is without a top-25 finish this season but notched an eagle and three birdies to card the lowest first round score of his career.

Xander Schauffele (68): Still searching for his first major, Schauffele has flashed form in recent weeks and continued it with a 4-under first round.

Shane Lowry (68): Following a T3 at last year’s Masters, Lowry carded five birdies, including at the tough ninth and 18th.

Sam Bennett (68): The U.S. Amateur champion became the first amateur to finish in the top 10 after the first round since Ryan Moore in 2005. The Texas A&M product opened birdie-eagle and added another birdie on the sixth before finishing with 12 consecutive pars. It’s the first bogey-free round by an amateur since 1992.

Jordan Spieth (69): Spieth fired a 4-under 32 on the first nine but struggled coming in with a bogey on 11 and a double-bogey on 13.

Justin Thomas (70): Thomas has never missed a cut at Augusta National despite shooting under par in the first round just one other time in eight appearances. His Round 2 scoring average is 69.6, which bodes well for the two-time major champion.

Tom Kim (70): A double-bogey on the 15th stifled what was otherwise a standout opening round for the Masters rookie.

BY THE NUMBERS

130: That’s how many stroke-play tournaments Jon Rahm had gone without making an opening double-bogey before he made a 6 on the par-4 first Thursday.

1: The number of top-20 major finishes in Viktor Hovland’s career. He finished T4 at last year’s Open Championship after playing alongside Rory McIlroy in the final group. Hovland’s opening 65 is his first round in the 60s at Augusta National, and he did it while playing alongside Tiger Woods.

8: Consecutive rounds under par by Scottie Scheffler at the Masters, the longest active streak of any active player.

11: Every champion since 2006 has been inside the top 11 after 18 holes. There are 12 players at 4 under or better.

4.59: The scoring average on the par-5 15th, the easiest hole in Round 1

4.3605: The scoring average on the par-4 11th, the hardest hole in Round 1

STATS LEADERS

Driving accuracy: Jon Rahm, Bernhard Langer, Hideki Matsuyama (14 of 14 fairways)

Driving distance: Rory McIlroy (334.5 yards)

Greens hit: Jon Rahm (17 of 18 greens)