Yeah Hi Jim, your humble Sports by Fletch correspondent welcomes you to our coverage of the masters. What a fantastic first day. High 70’s and no wind made up for the misery of cold and wet that were the last two years. Sorry Fletch, hey if you can talk Kate out of it I’ve got an extra badge for Sunday.
It was interesting to read the comments from Chairman Billy Payne this week about some of the course changes and the general state of things. Your humble correspondent cannot think of a better chairman personally to lead the club into the future. Mr. Payne is a good guy and a visionary and he was nice enough to chat with me briefly after the 2004 Masters Tournament. They couldn’t have picked a better guy after Hootie Johnson but I digress. Mr. Payne echoed the sentiments of yours truly when he answered a course question. “You know, I think we have it about right. I would be quick to add that this week is an important test. Since the most recent, substantial changes to the course in 2006, we have not had good weather over the weekend. The players have not, in fact, had the opportunity to demonstrate their skills against the competitive test of the course.”
Funny that those words from the chairman echo words penned from yours truly the last two years upon hearing the gripes from various other media members and legendary golfers about the “punitive distances and narrow fairways.” Augusta National was originally conceived to yield par as a fair score which it certainly is as was demonstrated today. It is a shot maker’s course and the changes of the last decade have been made to make it play more like it did in earlier decades. It does not as has been said by many eliminate scoring…. Consider if you will the “shot heard round the world” in 1935 as Gene Sarazen holed a 3 wood balata ball over the water on 15. You must be accurate, you must be courageous, and you must be a great putter as well as being just a bit lucky. I say this for this reason….for the first time in 3 years we have beautiful weather for the tournament in Augusta and on a course that plays a scant 10 yards shorter than last year… 38 rounds were scored today under par which is a new Masters record. Proving that on a day when scoring was possible and the stint meter playing a bit nicer than the typical 14 or 15’s that are rumored to be common scoring is possible by players who are playing good golf.
Some of the highlights of today were 1987 winner Larry Mize at 51 turning in a 5 under 67 just two shots off his personal best. Yes this course is very long but you can average 270 yard drives and shoot very well here. Also it was nice to see Greg Norman back at the Masters and under par qualifying on the stellar play at last years British Open. Chris Everett must be having an effect on renewing his competitive spirits.
Perhaps the story of the day was Chad Campbell with one of if not the most impressive starts ever with 5 under through the first 5 sinking a couple of very long birdie puts. The pity is after a long string of pars he would birdie 12 through 15 and flirt with an astonishing 63 before dropping two shots on the last two holes and just missing a tie with Greg Norman (96) and Nick Price (86) for low tournament round.
Also with a career best day at the Masters was Jim Furyk with his exceptional swing was the only player with a bogey free round on the day. He shot 66 and was steady all day before birdying 4 of the last 5 holes.
Paddy Harrington and Stewart Cink are hanging in at -3. Tiger had a typical opening round when he wins of 70. He scored well, hit a few bad shots and failed to put in a few that he really should have had and let’s be fair they will fall in tomorrow and Saturday if his play of late continues.
19 rounds beat 70 today and 19 more were below par for the aforementioned daily record at the masters so the cut line tomorrow night could very well be around even par setting up for a very competitive weekend.
Needless to say the champion will undoubtedly be in the red numbers on Sunday and I think we’re being set up for an absolute classic. I don’t think we will see Tigers 270 though he shot 70 in 1997 it should be noted but we won’t see Zack Johnson’s 289 from last year either. Your humble correspondent…is calling a 14 under 274 to be the number to beat this week.
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