AUGUSTA WINDS WREAK HAVOC ON DAY 1
Only two players able to battle through and break 70, including leader Hoffman
Augusta National Golf Club is so far doing a decent impression of Royal Troon. But it was an American who overwhelmed the British Open conditions on Thursday.
Strong, steady winds with gusts up to 60 km/h on Thursday gave the first round of the Masters a decidedly Scottish feel, with players forced to repeatedly back off on shots, reconsider their club selection in the wind, then take a guess and hope for the best.
“Welcome to Augusta,” said Adam Hadwin of Abbotsford, B.C., after his first competitive round in the Masters, where he steered it around for a 3-over 75, still within striking distance of just about everyone except leader Charley Hoffman, who closed with a flurry of birdies for a 7-under 65.
“Everything was going in,” said the 40-year-old from San Diego, who had five birdies on the back nine, including four in a row.
Other than Hoffman, almost everyone else found Augusta and its natural beauty unusually treacherous.
“It’s been a long time since I played in wind this bad,” Hadwin said. “When you’re on a golf course where mistakes are multiplied, it’s extremely difficult out there.”
On the 15th hole, defending champion Danny Willett of England was in the middle of reading his birdie putt when a gust blew his ball into a four-foot roll. He ended up making par from the new spot.
Though the strong winds were anticipated, the end result was still a surprising scoreboard. Only 11 of 93 players finished at better than even par, and the field average was about 3 over, making Hoffman’s low round all the more impressive. He beat the field by 10 shots.
That field, though, did not include No. 1 Dustin Johnson, who withdrew before his scheduled tee-off due to a back injury suffered when he slipped on the stairs at his rental house on Wednesday afternoon.
“I just don’t feel like there’s any chance of me competing,” Johnson said. “It hurts.” In both the literal and figurative sense, one imagines.
Thomas Pieters of Belgium was the early leader at 5 under through 10, but he gave all those strokes back on the remaining eight holes, including a wet, wind-hit double bogey at the short 12th hole.
“If you catch the wrong gust at the wrong time, then you look stupid,” Pieters said. “Like I did on 12 — but that’s just Augusta, I guess.”
That’s not usually Augusta, to be fair. But on Thursday — and similar conditions are expected on Friday before a pleasant weekend — it made for a whole new element of challenge. For pros who are very precise with the distances they hit their clubs, it was an unwelcome bit of uncertainty.
“Yeah, and you can’t do anything about it,” Pieters said. “That’s the annoying thing about it. So you have to — sometimes you have to back off five times, and I know that that might give you a penalty shot or a warning or something, but if that’s what it takes, then that’s what you got to do.”
Mike Weir of Sarnia, Ont., the 2003 Masters champion, said the wind was the strongest he could remember it being since 2000. He said it made every shot an adventure.
“Is it playing 20 yards longer, or 35 yards longer?” he asked. “Or if it lays down, it’s only 10 yards longer. That’s the toughest part — the guessing.”
Weir started his round with three bogeys in his first five holes, then managed to play the rest of his round at 1 over for a 4-over 76.
“Given the way I played today, 76 isn’t too bad. I didn’t play as sharply as I have been playing. I’m a little disappointed,” he said.
Mackenzie Hughes of Hamilton, the third Canadian in the field, finished at 7-over 79 and will need an extraordinary round on Friday to make his first Masters more than a two-day affair.
American William McGirt, who won at the Memorial Tournament last year but has missed the cut in three of his previous four major championship appearances, was the only other player with a sub-70 round, shooting a 3-under 69 to sit four back of Hoffman. Britain’s Lee Westwood was another stroke back with 70.
“It was just a solid day, and I was just trying to figure out a way to get it to the house without hurting myself,” said McGirt, a 37-year-old from North Carolina who plugged on mini-tours for years before his PGA Tour breakthrough last season.
He will have to deal with a host of former major champions not far behind him, including Jason Dufner, Phil Mickelson and Justin Rose, all of whom were at 1 under. But it was not a day when those at the top of the world rankings made their presence felt. Johnson withdrew, and no one in the top 10 coming into Augusta finished Thursday below par. Jordan Spieth played his second straight tournament round at Augusta that included a quadruple bogey, this time with a nine on the par-five 15th after last year’s Sunday disaster on 12. But just like last year, Spieth was otherwise impressive, finishing at 3 over.
Adam Scott, who won at Augusta in 2013, said the conditions were as difficult as he could remember and “borderline” unplayable. He finished at 3 over and said he needed an even-partype round on Friday to stay in it.
“I don’t think you’re going to see anybody double digits (under par) if the wind is up like this for two days,” Scott said.
There is one guy, at least, who has a good chance to prove otherwise.
Sometimes you have to back off five times, and I know that that might give you a penalty shot or a warning or something, but if that’s what it takes, then that’s what you got to do.