Hoffman races to 4-stroke lead
of the tournament very quick,” Hoffman said. “You just wanted to make pars. I was able to make those birdies and turn it into a fantastic round.”
McGirt’s day began with him going to the first tee four hours before his scheduled time to see the honorarystarters ceremony remembering Arnold Palmer. It ended with him trying to do something the King never did at the Masters — win the green jacket on his first appearance.
No first-timer has won the Masters in 38 years, since Fuzzy Zoeller in 1979, and, with 54 more holes to go, nobody in the clubhouse is concerned with anyone’s jacket size. But McGirt took a nice first step on his maiden journey with a 3-under 69 that was looking real good until Hoffman went on a birdie binge on the back nine.
McGirt even has a little Palmer-karma on his side. His caddie, Brandon Antus, is a Latrobe native.
“I didn’t care if I was two groups, three groups, four groups off, you know, after that; I was going to go watch it,” McGirt said. “It’s something I’ve always wanted to do. I’ve never been here to watch it in person. And with this being the first year without Mr. Palmer being here, I was not going to miss it.”
Hoffman birdied five holes in a six-hole stretch on the back nine to finish with his lowest round in four Masters appearances. He birdied all four par-3 holes to take the largest first-round lead at the Masters since Craig Wood had a five-shot lead in 1941.
“Everything was going in,” Hoffman said. “I had good numbers, good looks at it. I hit it in the right spot.”
Lurking six shots from the lead in fourth place is three-time Masters champion Phil Mickelson, who, like Jack Nicklaus in 1986, is trying to win the green jacket at age 46. He is tied with seven other players at 71, including Sergio Garcia, the only player in the field to not make a bogey. Only 11 of the 93 players finished under par.
“It’s great,” Mickelson said of his round. “Anything at par or better is phenomenal. Anything a couple over [par], you’ve kept yourself right in it.”
“If you didn’t commit to your shot, there was something bad waiting for you on the other end,” said former U.S. Open champ and Olympic gold medalist Justin Rose, who shot 71 with a birdie at the final hole.
It was a tough day for everyone, including world No. 1 Dustin Johnson, who withdrew with a back injury after falling on stairs late Wednesday afternoon at his rental house. Johnson warmed up on the practice range, but said he couldn’t complete a backswing without discomfort and decided not to start.
“It’s tough, I want to play,” Johnson said. “I’m playing probably the best golf of my career, and I look forward to this tournament every year. And to have a freak accident happen after I got back from the course, it’s tough.”
Jordan Spieth, who has finished either first or second in three Masters appearances, was up on the board again when he encountered trouble again on the back nine.
This time, he hit his third shot from 98 yards in the water at the par-5 15th and made 9, one hole after a bogey at No. 14. Just like that, Spieth went from a share of the lead to 4 over.
After what happened to him at the 12th hole in the final round a year ago, Spieth now has made a quadruplebogey in each of his past two rounds at the Masters. Curiously, in each instance, he immediately followed the gaffe with a birdie on the ensuing hole. Spieth finished with 75.
“I’m going to probably need to play something under par [Friday], which puts a little bit extra, added maybe a bit of pressure, that I wouldn’t have put on because I was thinking even par for the two days was a good score,” Spieth said. “And, now 3 over, I feel like I need to snag something [Friday].”