MASTERS SPECIAL
Andy heads the English charge
ANDY SULLIVAN led the English assault on the opening round of the 81st Masters.
A record 11 Englishman have qualified for the biggest tournament of all and it was Sullivan who got in the swing first.
He admitted he had been overawed on his first appearances at this golfing paradise 12 months ago.
The smiling assassin from Nuneaton missed the cut then, but looked much more comfortable in his surroundings this time round as he carded a one-under-par 71.
Sullivan said: “I was so nervous last year and I couldn’t settle down. This year felt normal again. To get around under par is amazing. It was nice to play golf again without bricking it.
“With the wind being up there, you can’t target the flag. I was just trying to reach the greens. And it worked for me.”
Daunting
Sullivan birdied the second hole to go into red numbers and despite a bogey at the sixth, he hit back with another birdie before the turn to go out in a solid 35.
Having parred both of the difficult 10th and 11th holes, Sullivan stepped up to the daunting 12th and made an impressive two.
A sloppy bogey at the 15th halted his charge but he birdied the 18th hole to end on a high.
Fellow countryman Justin Rose joined Sullivan in the march towards the top of the leaderboard.
Rose has blossomed into one of the game’s finest players, culminating in his US Open win in 2013.
In his past three Masters appearances he has never finished outside the top 15 and his liking for Augusta was evident again as he made a confident start.
Rose, 36, went out in a solid 34 that included three birdies and just one bogey.
He reached the turn as joint leader on two under par, but a bogey on the difficult 12th pegged him back, with some more familiar faces in Paul Casey, Rickie Fowler and Matt Fitzpatrick on his heels. Four holes behind Sullivan, Fitzpatrick was also doing his bit to fly the flag.
Fitzpatrick, who made his Ryder Cup debut alongside Sullivan in Hazeltine last September, shot an impressive 67 on the final day last year to secure a tied-seventh finish on just his second appearance.
He showed his liking again for Augusta when he got through Amen Corner at one under, having notched three birdies.
As the afternoon starters took to the course the wind had picked up, making it a much more difficult proposition. It was a rollercoaster start for another European Ryder Cup star Thomas Pieters.
Experts reckon it takes a long time to conquer the challenge of Augusta but Pieters skipped along like a veteran instead of a debutant.
He charged to the top of the leaderboard after setting a blistering early pace before falling away.
The Belgian stamped his name on the golfing map in September after starring for Europe.
Pieters won four points from five and the gushing praise of team-mate Rory McIlroy following a nerveless
in Hazeltine. He was at it again here too, displaying a cool head in breezy conditions to shoot a faultless front nine of 32 including four birdies.
As a kid, the 25-year-old used to dive into a lake near his home in Antwerp to fish out golf balls.
He was back in the water again, getting wet at both the 11th and 12th holes to drop three shots and double bogied the last to finish even par.
It was a miserable Masters debut for English amateur Scott Gregory, who started with a nervous triple bogey and never recovered, going on to shoot a 10-over 82.