ANDhe Augusta Masters started with a bang. With Scottie Scheffler (70) and Rory McIlroy, the last two winners, toned above. The Northern Irishman, defending champion and followed by Rafa Nadal, shot 67 despite all the fuss he had this week with the champions’ dinner and other commitments. On a Thursday with very hard greens, the likes of which had not been seen at the beginning in the entire century, there is also no trace of the LIV Golf players, clinging to the poise of Sergio García, who at par was the first in that league (72).
The two banners of the rebel circuit, Jon Rahm, with the yoke of the cut over his head for the first time in his career (78), and Bryson DeChambeau (76), on the other hand, move on the wire. (Results)
McIlroy was eager to get started. His goal is to try to become the fourth golfer in history to retain the green jacket. The last was Tiger Woods, now absent, in 2002. “It’s not what kept me up at night the most when the year began, but it would certainly make me very excited,” said the world number 2, whose life has already changed without the weight of chasing the last missing piece. Also personally. Last year he was distracted by watching Zootopia with his daughter Poppy between rounds. “Now we are watching the second part, but also Love Story with Erika,” his wife.
Rory McIlroy (36) executes a shot
Rory found the moment of inspiration midway around. He linked three birdies in a row taking advantage of 13 and 15 and stood on the head next to Sam Burns. Only five winners, including José María Olazábal in 1996, started below 68 the year after victory, adding value to McIlroy’s return. “I didn’t play well at first, but then I found some good shots. Five under par exceeded my expectations and what I wanted to achieve,” he said.
Also already lurking from the beginning, despite two final bogeys, Justin Rose (70), his victim last year. He has been second three times. He does not want to hang the poster of Tom Weiskopf, who was four times and never wore green.
Rahm, on the other hand, had a very poor start. Without precision in the irons and with the putt sight crooked On the right he signed 40 strokes for the first nine holes, his worst record in all his participations – 37 rounds – at Augusta National. And things didn’t get better afterward. On the 13th, a par 5 where he has made 15 birdies and an eagle, he sent it into the woods with the second shot and ended up with a double bogey that left him KO. The year that arrived most serene has turned out to be the stormiest of all. He didn’t make a birdie all afternoon. “There are no excuses, something hasn’t worked,” he intoned.
Survival exercise
Meanwhile, Sergio García played the first nine neatly, taking advantage of the par 5s. At the 11th, the start of Amen Corner, the hole that plays the worst at Augusta – a negative balance of 35 over par after 83 rounds – he threw it into the water and lost all the money. Start again.
Sergio García (46), at the end of the round
García has not arrived with great confidence at his twenty-seventh appointment with the Masters. His body language is far from that of his animated moments. He survives because of his talent. He has never been very fond of the driving range—he has shot less than 100 balls all week—and he is not inspired with his putting either. Even so, he knows how to survive like few others.
He grabbed again at 13, the long stretch baptized as Azalea, the name of his daughter, the hole where he started winning the Masters in 2017. It is an inspiration for Borriol, who applied intelligence to make a new birdie.
But another ball into the water, just barely because it hit the green at 15.made him go back up to par again, a result that having visited the water twice is not that bad by any means.
