On yet another crisp, bright and clear Augusta morning, Arnold Palmer (81 years, 56 appearances) and Jack Nicklaus (71 years, 52 appearances), the two most revered men in golf, conducted the ceremonial tee-off with thousands of their fans who had gathered so early in the morning on Thursday to cheer their idols, who are virtually synonymous with this tournament. This tradition is basic to the Masters’ mystique because it heralds the promise that something dramatic and exciting will unfold over the next few days.
And sure enough, Retief Goosen, who like Ernie Els was keeping a low profile, staying under the radar, while media attention was splattered across a slew of newcomers, shot out of the starting gate on the first hole, arguably the toughest opening one on the PGA circuit, and holed out for a miraculous eagle two. From here, he steadily built a score of five under by the turn before subsiding to settle at two under at the finish, owing to back-to-back bogies on 17 and 18. Charl Schwartzel and T Immelman are holding the fort ably for the South Africans.
The European challenge got off to a fine start, with Rory McIlroy shooting an unspectacular but steady round and was the leader in the club house at a seven under 65, where he was joined by the mercurial Alvaro Quiros, thanks to a brilliant birdie on the 18th, the last stroke of the tournament for the day.
Hopefully, this great round by Rory will not be followed by a second round disaster as at St. Andrews last year, where he opened with a 63 on Thursday and shot a horrendous 80 on Friday. He has matured well beyond his 21 years and is looking to stringing together four good rounds for a change. Sergio Garcia, for the Europeans, was playing much better than he has recently.
Now, in the media chase for potential US and European winners, nobody was talking about the Koreans. So, Y E Yang shot a five under 67 to remind all that it was he that took on Woods, head to head, in the PGA championship in 2009 and bested him. And, having gained much confidence, has thrown in his gauntlet.
To emphasise the Koreans, his compatriot K J Choi birdied the last two to be prominent at five under with Y E Yang on the leader board.
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The US contingent was led by the ever smiling and increasingly confident Matt Kuchar, who had played his first Masters several years ago as an amateur with the then reigning champion Tiger Woods, and he constructed an attractive four under 68 to be well placed for Friday, together with compatriot Ricky Barnes. A US lad to be watched out for is the ultra long driving Gary Woodland (he never has to play out of divots, as he always out-drives everyone at 320 yards plus!), who shot a six under for the last six holes on Thursday. He was an obscure 591st in world rankings before he won recently on the PGA tour and is now well placed to contend for the Green Jacket.
It is indeed creditable for Fujita (-2), Ryo Ishikawa (-1) and Matsuyama (even) to have performed well, even though their rounds were up and down, in the context of the burden of putting up a good showing to give moral support to their countrymen in Japan and raise their spirit.
Sadly, India’s Arjun Atwal succumbed to the enormous pressure placed on a rookie at the Masters. He narrowly missed several short putts, hit several poor shots, missed a tap in owing to casualness and could not regroup, as he seemed to collapse and give up on a course that had laid itself open for being exploited. Despite an eagle on the 15th, he double bogied the last to finish near the bottom at an eight over 80. While he will not be playing over the weekend for sure, his only method for getting back to the Masters next year is to ascend to the top 50 in the world or win at least another PGA tour event. His family who were supporting him in force, and all his fans in India, are disappointed. He has the talent to win again and let us hope for that.
Finally, turning to the mighty Phil Mickleson and Tiger Woods, who between them share six of the last 10 Green Jackets in the last decade, their position on the scoreboard is neither indicative of the quality of the game today nor of waning talent; it’s a reflection of putts not dropping. Mickleson had some dramatic escapes, one from deep amongst the azaleas on the 13th, leaving one in little doubt that he will be in the last pairing on Sunday. Tiger, while patient on Thursday, exuded poor body language as he missed putts even as distant roars of approval for others could be heard across Augusta National.
The playing conditions were perfect and can only be less good on the remaining three days. Let’s just wait and see what drama unfolds.
