Thursday began cool and unseasonably crisp at Augusta National.
It ended with hot, hotter and hottest.
A temperature check from the first round of the Masters:
– Hot: Most of the field. They didn’t mow the greens at Augusta, they paved them, and the players weren’t happy. The greens were so slick and the pin positions so treacherous that some of the game’s best putters looked like refugees from a Sunday morning golf league.
Loren Roberts had a five-putt from the fringe on the first hole; Ken Green had a five-putt on 16, and defending U.S. Open champion Steve Jones managed a four-putt on the eighth. Only 10 players broke par, and who knows how many broke their putters.
– Hotter: Tiger Woods. Destiny’s child looked destined for doom after shooting a 40 on the front nine. Then Woods, with what seemed to be half the state of Georgia following him, showed why this might be his time and his tournament, ripping off a 30 on the back nine for a 2-under 70. Just your basic 40-30.
– Hottest: Paul Azinger, a cancer patient a few years back, turned in a poignant 69, while Paul Stankowski, a Nike Tour player just last year, had a 68. And they were both trumped by John Huston, who merely holed a 5-iron for eagle on the 18th to finish a tournament-leading 67.
All in all it was one of the craziest days in the history of this tournament. Even Huston felt relieved to survive.
On the first hole, Huston hit a 4-iron chip that rolled within 6 feet of the cup. Then it rolled back to its the original point. He didn’t take any chances again, chipping it in the hole.
“Willie Wood said playing out here was like driving on ice,” Huston said. “You’ve got both hands on the wheel. You’re trying to be careful, but you can’t stop.”
Stankowski managed to put on the brakes, but only because he practiced for this tournament by putting in his garage.
Other players weren’t as lucky. The biggest winner was Augusta National. The average score was 76.093 on the par-72 course.
Defending champ Nick Faldo shot 75; he had five three-putt greens on the front nine compared to only one for the entire tournament last year. Pre-tournament favorite Phil Mickelson shot 76, and Greg Norman’s attempt at redemption went nowhere, leaving him at 77.
“I’m very tired,” Colin Montgomerie said after his 72. “This is the hardest day’s work we’ve had in a long, long time, if not ever. That’s because every shot is a potential disaster and every putt is a potential disaster.”
Montgomerie said if the conditions stay this way, he wouldn’t be surprised if the winner finished over par. However, he made that statement before Woods started to treat Augusta’s back nine like a flat, open muni track.
Woods had a bad case of the hooks on the front nine. But once he found his drives, the magic began. He had four birdies and an eagle, uncorking a 379-yard drive on the 500-yard, par-5 15th, then hitting a wedge to 4 feet and dropping the putt.
“I was pretty hot at the way I was playing,” Woods said. “I couldn’t keep the ball on the fairway. From there, I wasn’t able to attack the pins you should attack. I was just playing real defensive golf, and that’s exactly what you want to do when you’re struggling. It was a tough day initially, but I got through it.”
Azinger knows about tough days. The former PGA champion hasn’t been the same player since he was diagnosed with cancer in 1993. He made a complete physical recovery, but the mental part has taken longer.
Azinger admitted that his heart wasn’t in the game. It is now.
“I was just going through the motions for the most part,” Azinger said. “I wouldn’t listen to my coach. I didn’t believe him when he told me to get the club more behind me and stuff. It was a lot of things. It was like a big puzzle, and there were many little pieces to it. They’re not all together yet, but let’s put it this way: I haven’t been in the press room in a long time.”
Azinger realizes people won’t consider him back to his old form until he wins a tournament. But even a win in the Masters won’t match the greater victory he already has achieved–conquering cancer.
“I consider myself all the way back,” Azinger said.
