Watch out, Dad!
Rory hits his own father in nightmare round at Augusta ▶ Mcilroy makes worst start in his 13 appearances at Augusta ▶ Rose leads by four shots after sublime opening round
Rory Mcilroy hit his father, Justin Rose hit the mother of all rounds. A bizarre but enthralling beginning to the 85th Masters saw the Northern Irishman slump to his worst ever opening score at Augusta while the Englishman took a four-shot lead.
It must be painful being part of Mcilroy’s family at the moment and seeing him so out of form. But for father Gerry, the discomfort was taken to a new level when he was hit by one of his son’s errant shots.
Mcilroy, who shot a four-over 76, had suffered back-to-back bogeys when he drove behind a tree on the par-four seventh. He tried to hook one on to the green, but the ploy failed and he was soon shouting “fore, right!” as it headed towards the galleries.
Gerry was not watching and did not react to the yell, with the ball hitting him full on the calf. Mcilroy Snr was unfazed, turning around to check that it was his heir’s ball, before walking off and joking with reporters: “I should ask for an autographed glove.”
Mcilroy Jnr said: “I knew it was my dad because I was aiming at him – he was on the perfect line from which to draw it on to the green.
“But I hit it dead straight. He was OK, he didn’t limp away. He just needs to go and put some ice on. Maybe I’ll autograph a bag of frozen peas for him.”
Mcilroy, 31, was still in a surprisingly positive mood. “Honestly, I’m quite encouraged with how I hit it on the way in,” he said.
“I could have made a couple more birdies, but I’ll do a little bit of practice and hopefully go low tomorrow.”
Mcilroy’s meltdown was in stark contrast to Rose’s serene progress. On seven under par, his nearest pursuers are the American Brian Harman and Japan’s Hideki Matsuyama.
Yet even that pair need binoculars, after Rose shrugged off five weeks of competitive inactivity to play the final 11 holes in nine-under for a seven-under 65. The last time anyone has enjoyed a bigger firstround at the Masters was Jackie Burke – 66 years ago.
Justin Rose had not played for five weeks because of a back injury and instead of competitive golf, he prepared by sitting in his trophy room visualising how he would play Augusta National. Yet, even in his wildest fantasies, he would not have envisaged shooting a seven-under 65 to take a four-shot lead.
And Rose would surely have required hallucinogenics to picture playing the last 11 holes in nine under on a day when the Masters did not so much as bite back as brutally devour so many big names.
Dustin Johnson a 74, Rory Mcilroy a 76, Lee Westwood a 78. It verged on carnage. But Rose hit the treacherous fast and firm layout running and by the end was in full sprint, with one of the great stretches in British golf history.
Yes, it was only Thursday, but that closing three hours should always be recalled. The 40-year-old was two over after seven holes and looking highly unlikely to trouble the clubhouse leaders, American Brian Harmon and Japan’s Hideki Matsuyama. There then followed the full Rose bloomage.
The 2013 US Open champion caught a break on the par-five eighth, when his approach bounced kindly off the left before coming to rest within 15 feet.
Rose holed for an eagle and proceeded to soar. His tee shot to four feet on the famous par-three 12th was class, his approach to kick-in distance on the 17th probably even better. Rose was in the zone, a zone nobody else came close to entering all day. “I guess the good news is I don’t know what happened, and that’s often when you play your best golf,” he said. “You get into that nice bit of flow or whatever we look for. I didn’t panic – that was the most important thing.
“Being two over through seven, I still knew even though I saw a few red numbers on the board that this was a day not to play yourself out of the tournament. The course had a lot of teeth to it, the pins were relatively fair so good golf shots were rewarded if you were able to hit them. To be nine under from my last 11, you can never see that coming here. You have to respect this course so much more now than you had to five months ago.”
Didn’t they just. Remember, remember the gift of November. The green jackets certainly did as they set up the National in brutal fashion to exact payback for the 2020 Masters. From very soft to very, very hard. Alister Mackenzie’s creation bit huge chunks out of some of the game’s biggest names on a first day when a US Open broke out in Georgia. Mcilroy’s worst opening to this major featured him hitting his father with an errant shot on the seventh. And they say in golf that Pa is your friend.
The consolation for Mcilroy was that he was not alone in his Masters mediocrity. Johnson, trying to become just the fourth reigning champion to defend the Augusta title successfully, double-bogeyed the last.
“That stings, but I’ll go to the range and hit a few balls,” Johnson said. “The conditions are definitely different from November.”
Pros are minded to be respectful about the playing conditions at Augusta – the green jackets are not known for their liberal attitudes towards freedom of speech – but a few could not resist but point out that the putting surfaces might be a tad OTT.
“I didn’t play yesterday. I just did some chipping and putting and hit a few balls, but I went on that first green today I thought, ‘what’s happened here?’ It looked like glass,” Ian Woosnam said. “This is about as fast as I’ve seen it.”
Credit to the Welshman for managing to see out his round, never mind for scoring 76. On the 30th anniversary of his Masters victory, the 63-year-old considered walking in after the 11th because of a groin injury. “I’m playing on one leg, plus I haven’t had a scorecard in my hand for 18 months,” Woosnam said. “So I’m pretty damned pleased.”
There were not too many smiling. After his back-to-back runner-up placings at Bay Hill and The Players last month, Westwood carried so
‘I don’t know what happened and that is often when you play your best golf’
many hopes of finally furnishing his CV with that missing major, but now a made cut seems an achievement.
Sergio Garcia, the 2017 champion matched Mcilroy’s 76 and bizarrely willed for the challenge to be even more arduous. “I’m not going to come here and say, ‘oh, the greens were too fast or too firm’ or something like that,” Garcia said. “No, I think the Masters with good weather should be played like this. I would actually love to see the fairways play faster. It seems like the fairways are soft and you’re even getting mud balls, even though there hasn’t been any rain. Other than that, I thought this is the way the course should be played.” Paul Casey had led the English challenge with a 73, while Ian Poulter had a rollercoaster experience, going from one under through five holes, to five over after 12 holes, to two over by the end.
The day began with Lee Elder, the first black golfer to play in the Masters, joining Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player as an honorary starter. Elder, 86, was not well enough to take a swing, but raised his driver to acknowledge the heartwarming cheers, bit his lip to hold back the wave of emotion, then sat down. “Having Lee there was the right thing to do,” Nicklaus said.