Hard day for Shubhankar, Spieth in lead at Masters
Augusta, April 6: It was a rough opening day on the golf ’ s biggest stage for Shubhankar Sharma as he opened with a five- over 77 on his maiden Masters appearance.
Despite three birdies, he was shredded by eight bogeys, which included two bogey hat- tricks, one on each half of the Augusta National Golf Club.
Other Asian Tour members were Yuta Ikeda ( 76) at Tied- 62nd and Kiradech Aphibarnrat ( 79) at T- 82.
Honorary member, Vijay Singh of Fiji, led the field for a while and he was twice at 3- under, but finally ended 1- under and in Tied- 16th place.
The overall first round leader was Jordan Spieth, the 2015 champion, who had five birdies in a row from 13th to 17th but bogeyed the last to take lead at 6- under and he was two shots clear of Tony Finau and Matt Kuchar.
Seven players including Li Haotong shot threeunder 69 to be Tied- fourth and that group included former World No. 1 Rory McIlroy and birthday boy Swede Henrik Stenson.
Tiger Woods making a comeback to Masters after two years shot one- over 73 and was Tied- 29th. He had three birdies, none of them on Par- 5s, against four bogeys.
Sharma seemed to have settled himself in after any jitters he may have had of playing his first Masters as he made three steady pars. Then came the first hat- trick of bogey from fourth to sixth, but two pars and then his first- ever birdie at Augusta suggested he might find his way back.
It was not to be as each of his three birdies were followed by bogeys; on the two occasions, it was on the very next hole. That never allowed him any breathing space.
“To be honest I am not too happy with the round. I didn’t finish the way I wanted to, but it was great out there, the atmosphere and everything, it was fantastic,” said Sharma.
Summing up the day, the Indian golfer said, “The putter did not work on the front nine and approach ( shots did not work) on the back nine. It was a mix of both.” — PTI