In 1955, Jack Burke Jr. held a four-shot lead at the end of the first round of the US Masters. No player had been able to better or even match that achievement (he carded a five-under 67) until this year.
As windy conditions wreaked havoc on most players’ scores at August, Charley Hoffman carded a seven-under 65 to lead William McGirt by four strokes. They were the only two players to card sub-70 rounds, only 11 of the 93 starters were under-par, and the field averaged 74.98, the highest opening round since a 76.19 average in 2007.
As the course was battered by steady 30km/h winds throughout the day, exacerbated by intermittent wind gusts approaching 60 km/h, the scores soared.
Adam Scott, the 2013 champion, watched in near disbelief as – after he marked his ball on the 14th green and replaced it for a one-metre par putt – a gust carried it away to four metres. He made the putt anyway and eventually finished with a 75.
The biggest shock so far in the tournament came before it had even begun. Just under 24 hours before world number one and pre-tournament favourite Dustin Johnson was due to begin his quest for a fourth straight victory, he was headed downstairs at the home he is renting, to move his car in a downpour, when he slipped while wearing socks and landed on his left elbow and lower back.
“He tried to play,” reported the US PGA Tour. “He wanted to play. Even after warming up, when he felt pain upon impact on two out of every three swings, he headed to the putting green to give it a shot. But that's as far as Johnson got. Instead of going to the first tee, he took a sharp right toward the clubhouse and soon was on his way home.”
Ernie Els was more fortunate. A year ago, he six-putted the first hole of the Masters en route to a missed cut. He started this year’s event by holing a short par putt on the first hole. “I was really nervous on the tee, so it’s nice to get that one in and kind of get going,” said Els after his even-par 72. “But then I bogeyed two, so… The good is really unbelievably good here, and the bad is just as bad here, so you got to be tough.”
Jordan Spieth, the 2015 champion who last year led by five strokes heading into the back-nine on the final day then bogeyed the 10th and 11th holes and hit two balls into the water at the par-3 12th hole to card a quadruple-bogey and finish second three shots behind champion Danny Willett, suffered another spectacular setback. On the par-5 15th hole, historically the easiest at Augusta National but on this occasion the ninth hardest because of strong gusts and a back pin, Spieth hit one shot that spun back into the water then another that went well over the green. He made a quadruple-bogey nine and carded a 75.
Meanwhile, 40-year-old Hoffman, a four-time winner on the PGA Tour but still without a Grand Slam title, missed five cuts in his first eight starts of the 2017 season and arrived in Los Angeles for the Genesis Open searching for answers. He started asking golf friends and acquaintances: What could he do to improve? How could he get better? He kept hearing the same answer: You’ve got to start believing in yourself. Eliminate the doubts.
“Everything seemed like it was close, but I just didn’t have that belief that you need to have in yourself,” said Hoffman, whose tie for fourth at Riviera was the first of two top-fives in his last four starts (he was tied second at Bay Hill). “If you don’t believe in yourself, who’s going to believe in you?” On the first day at Augusta, Hoffman beat the field average by nearly 10 shots.
In 1955, Burke faded away to a share of 13th at the end, although the following year he won both the Masters and the US PGA Championship. Hoffman will be hoping he doesn’t endure a similar fate.
Other selected players’ scores: Lee Westwood 70, Phil Mickelson 71, Justin Rose 71, Sergio Garc'e finished with a 75ho spectact who spectactularly collapsed last yearn. der-par, and the ía 71, Rory McIlroy 72, Fred Couples 73, Danny Willett 73, Jon Rahm 73, Marc Leishman 73, Jason Day 74, Rafael Cabrera-Bello 75, Bernhard Langer 75, José María Olazábal 77, Henrik Stenson 77
