They tweaked Augusta National to make it tougher, and the end result was like closing down a lane on the expressway. Talk about a pileup. The local radio station should do traffic reports on the Masters leaderboard.
The first round of the Masters seemed like Pete Rozelle’s version of parity for the National Football League. Everyone went 8-8.
About the only golfer to be eliminated Thursday was 76-year-old Doug Ford, who shot an 88 in his 47th Masters. It appears Ford wants to play long enough here to shoot his age.
There were a few other players who are out of it (nice 80, Nick Faldo), but otherwise a pack mentality prevailed.
When play was suspended because of darkness with four groups on the course, there were 26 golfers no more than three strokes from the leaders. Davis Love III, Brandel Chamblee and Scott McCarron were safely in the clubhouse with 3-under-par 69s. Nick Price also was at 3-under going into the 18th hole, which he will finish Friday morning.
The leaders have plenty of company. There were seven golfers at 2-under, seven at 1-under and 12 at even par. The group included former champions Mark O’Meara (70), Jose Maria Olazabal (70), Ian Woosnam (71), Sandy Lyle (71), Fuzzy Zoeller (72) and Tiger Woods (72). There was a would-be champion in Greg Norman (71), and the player whom many believe will be this year’s champion, David Duval, who was 1-under through 17 holes.
All those great players and not one of them went low on a day that seemed to be made for a 65. Before a late afternoon storm delayed play for an hour, the conditions were steamy but calm. Yet it never rained birdies.
Part of it had to do with tough pin positions; Masters officials must have been confused about the day of the week because they set several Sunday pins. Some of it also had to do with the changes to the course.
But most of it was attributed to the mystique of the Masters.
“It’s the Masters, and there’s more pressure here,” said O’Meara, the defending champion. “You saw some guys make some birdies and then turn around and make some mistakes.”
Two of those guys were Woods and Duval. Woods had three birdies on the front nine, but he also had an eight on the par-5 eighth.
Duval, meanwhile, was on cruise control, going out in 33. But instead of breaking away from the field, he got caught in a cluster of semis. He slipped with bogeys on 12, 13 and 14. Duval knocked his drive into the water on 13 and left an approach short on the par-4 14th.
Guess the guy is mortal after all.
“You’re going to run into some bad stuff out here,” Duval said. “You have to try to outweigh it with some good stuff.”
Love had plenty of good stuff on the back nine, coming in with a 32. With all the hype over Duval and Woods, Love is the one player who many feel can beat both of them this year.
Love nearly won the Masters in 1995. He shot 13-under but lost to Ben Crenshaw by two strokes.
After Thursday’s round, Love will take his chances at 13-under this year.
“I’m the quietest No. 3 player in the world there’s ever been,” said Love, who hasn’t won since last April. “I’ve been quietly hanging in there. So I’m happy to be where I am.”
Chamblee was ecstatic. He is playing in his first major by virtue of winning the Greater Vancouver Open, which isn’t exactly The Players Championship. Still, it got him an invitation to Augusta, and he made the most of it Thursday.
“Well, it was the best round I’ve ever played here,” Chamblee joked. “I didn’t really know how I was going to handle my first day. You never know how you’re going to feel. I was hoping that I could come and try to stay loose and relaxed and hit the shots I’ve been hitting. And I did.”
The trick, however, is doing it for four rounds. The traffic jam should start to ease Friday as the tournament begins to define itself.
Of the players at the top, Duval still is the favorite. He was one hole away Thursday from completing his round. Now he has to be ready to go at 8:15 a.m. Friday to play just the 18th.
When asked if he had a problem with it, Duval typically remained focused.
“It’s not a problem if you want to win this event,” he said as darkness fell on Augusta.
