SECOND ROUND TEE TIMES
Jet-setter Justin jumps into contention as Masters legends suffer the jitters
JET-SETTING debutant Justin Harding shared the early clubhouse lead at the Masters as former champions failed to achieve lift-off in the opening round.
Danny Willett shot a 75 while Sergio Garcia and last year’s winner Patrick Reed both came home with 73s.
But South African Harding, who won the Qatar Masters in March, shot a 69 in his first-ever round at Augusta as he bids for his sixth worldwide win in the last year – and the first here by a rookie since Fuzzy Zoeller in 1979.
The world No.49 (right) has played in 23 different countries and was in Zambia this time last year. He said: “I won the Indonesian Open and found myself on the Asian Tour, got a back-door entry into the European Tour, and kind of kept going. Then I won in Qatar and I have just gone from there. In the last 15 months I have spent only three months at home.
“I’m seeing the golf course for the first time almost every week so I’m not taking any real demons or any bad memories into them, but then again this is a bit different as I have watched the Masters a few times on TV.”
Eddie Pepperell carded four birdies and six bogeys in a 74 on his Masters debut.
“It was up and down in every sense,” said the British Masters winner.
“I made a lot of bogeys but some birdies too.
“The scoring isn’t incredible, which shows that it’s not easy, but the greens are quite soft still and there wasn’t a lot of wind.
“I said to my caddie that it didn’t feel that difficult and he was really surprised that the scoring wasn’t lower. Then again I might shoot 82 tomorrow!”
The 2016 champion Willett, who has yet to record a top-20 finish on the PGA Tour this season, had a bad day. He carded a triple-bogey seven on No.10 when he drove into the crowd and then speared his second into a greenside bush. (US unless stated; *=amateur) 1.30pm Sandy Lyle (Sco), Michael Kim, Patton Kizzire
1.41pm Trevor Immelman (SA), Martin Kaymer (Ger), Devon Bling*
1.52pm Larry Mize, Jimmy Walker, Stewart Cink
2.03pm Jose Maria Olazabal (Spn), Kevin Na, Thorbjorn Olesen (Den)
2.14pm Bernhard Langer (Ger), Matt Wallace (Eng), Alvaro Ortiz (Mex)*
2.25pm Alex Noren (Swe), Keegan Bradley, Matthew Fitzpatrick (Eng)
2.36pm Vijay Singh (Fij), Billy Horschel, Jovan Rebula (SA)* 2.47pm Kevin Kisner, Kiradech Aphibarnrat (Tha), Shugo Imahira (Jpn)
2.58pm Zach Johnson, Ian Poulter (Eng), Matt Kuchar 3.09pm Francesco Molinari (Ita), Rafael Cabrera Bello (Spn), Tyrrell Hatton (Eng) 3.31pm Bubba Watson, Patrick Cantlay, Satoshi Kodaira (Jpn) 3.42pm Dustin Johnson, Bryson DeChambeau, Jason Day (Aus)
3.53pm Phil Mickelson, Justin Rose (Eng), Justin Thomas 4.04pm Jordan Spieth, Paul Casey (Eng), Brooks Koepka 8pm – Sky Sports Golf
7.30pm – BBC2, 8pm – Sky Sports Golf
6.30pm – BBC2, 7pm – Sky Sports Golf 4.15pm Andrew Landry, Adam Long, Corey Conners (Can) 4.26pm Ian Woosnam (Wal), Keith Mitchell, Kevin Tway
4.37pm Mike Weir (Can), Shane Lowry (Ire), Kevin O’Connell* 4.48pm Angel Cabrera (Arg) Aaron Wise, Justin Harding (SA)
4.59pm Danny Willett (Eng), Brandt Snedeker, Takumi Kanaya (Jpn)* 5.10pm Fred Couples, Si Woo Kim (Kor), J. B. Holmes
5.32pm Branden Grace (SA), Emiliano Grillo (Arg), Lucas Bjerregaard (Den) 5.43pm Charl Schwartzel (SA), Charles Howell III, Eddie Pepperell (Eng) 5.54pm Sergio Garcia (Spn), Tony Finau, Henrik Stenson (Swe) 6.05pm Adam Scott (Aus), Hideki Matsuyama (Jpn), Kyle Stanley
6.16pm Patrick Reed, Webb Simpson, Viktor Hovland (Nor)* 6.27pm Charley Hoffman, Louis Oosthuizen (SA), Marc Leishman (Aus) 6.38pm Tommy Fleetwood (Eng), Xander Schauffele, Gary Woodland 6.49pm Tiger Woods, Haotong Li (Chn), Jon Rahm (Spn)
7.00pm Rory McIlroy (NI), Rickie Fowler, Cameron Smith (Aus)
and clouds. Chance of thunder. High 29. Wind S 9mph
Humid, sun and clouds. Chance of heavy late thunder. Wind S 13mph