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Jon Rahm, +4 through 10, has a birdie chance at 11 but misses it. He’s cutting a downbeat figure and in the majors it has been going on a long time. Since winning the 2023 Masters he has only one top five finish in the championships that define a career – and even that was T2 behind the runaway winner of the 2024 Open, Brian Harman. At his best he was like a big angry wild Basque bear. Too often now he’s like a sad bear in a bad zoo. We want roaring Rahm.
After his round of 70 Shane Lowry talked about conditions. “I think this could be the toughest Masters we’ve played in a while,” he said. “You look at the forecast. They can do whatever they want with the golf course this weekend. Over the last few years we’ve had a day every year where it’s been raining or it’s been heavy rains. It’s kind of helped us a little bit, but I think before the week is out, it’s going to get very, very crusty around here.”
The lowlight of Bryson DeChambeau’s opening 76 was a triple bogey-7 at the 11th. It took him three shots to leave the greenside bunker and his explanation was brief after the round: “Bunker was softer than I anticipated.”
Exactly how much does Justin Rose enjoy a Masters Thursday? Consider this: he’s played the tournament 20 times, and he’s claimed three solo first round leads and two shared ones. He’s also 9-for-20 at going sub-70 which is extraordinary. Rory McIlroy, by contrast, is now 3-for-17.
Photograph: Matt Slocum/APShare
Updated at 16.19 EDT
Rory McIlroy on his opening round: “I thought I would feel different, but then I put my ball on the tee and felt the same nerves. I’m glad I felt that way. Something would be wrong if I didn’t.
“I settled really quickly. I’ve said all week there’s a certain freedom now. If I hit it in the trees? Okay! I’ve seen it all. I did that a bit on the front nine and found my game on the back. I swung freely and kept doing so even on the front nine. It’s a great start but a long way to go. I’m feeling good with where I’m at, though.”
A reminder that Tom Watson and Gary Player had plenty to say after they hit the honorary first drives earlier today – on Brooks Koepka and Patrick Reed, and also Tiger Woods.
Jon Rahm has had a terrible front nine. The 2023 champion entered this week in startlingly good form on LIV. His last nine starts there had reaped one win (in Hong Kong at the start of March), half a dozen seconds (three after extra holes) and a pair of fifths. But today? He’s +4 through the turn. Back at the 8th, Scheffler misses his short birdie putt to stay at -3.
Nathan Cain emails: “Is this the first round of Justin Rose’s march to the Green jacket?” It could be. He’s sneaked into a share of third with a typically neat and tidy first round. The three-time Masters runner-up is apparently ageless. Scottie Scheffler is in the same pack but has hit the par-5 8th green in two and has a lengthy eagle putt which he has left just outside gimme range.
-5: Burns (F), McIlroy (F)
-3: Kitayama (F), Day (F), Reed (F), Rose (9), Scheffler (7)
ShareRory McIlroy ties the -5 clubhouse lead
A lovely lag putt secures his 67 and ties Sam Burns. It’s the defending champion’s second-best first round score (the best was a 65 in 2011 which had him tied at the top after 18 holes). Such a different departure from the green to the last time he was competitive at Augusta 12 months ago, but what a feeling today must have been. He was far from perfect. His driving was poor at times. You sense he played with a weight lifted from his shoulders.
It’s been a brilliant day for Rory McIlroy. Photograph: Petter Arvidson/BILDBYRÅN/ShutterstockShare
Updated at 16.09 EDT
The fairway bunkers on 18 are proving very popular. Is this a case of the fast-running conditions allowing balls to bound forward where previously they have held up? Rory McIlroy is the latest man to find them. Readers with long memories will recall Sandy Lyle playing a 7-iron from this sand. It was such a sensational shot it gave him the chance to win the tournament which he took and then danced a little Highland jig, arms above his head, sweaty armpits on show to the world and then swiftly covered up by his new Green Jacket.
How will McIlroy fare? No Green Jacket on the line today, but he’d like to match the clubhouse lead of Sam Burns. He has 149 yards and it’s solid. Very solid. Middle of the green solid.
A limp finish for Bryson DeChambeau. A bogey at 18 sees him complete a 76. It’s the fifth time, in 10 starts, that he has failed to break 74 in the first round at the Masters. He’ll need a strong fightback to avoid returning to old ways. In his first seven visits to Augusta he failed to record one top 20 then finished T6 and T5 in the last two years.
Rory McIlroy hits a lovely shot into 17, giving himself about 15 feet for birdie and the solo lead. It is 10 years since a defending champion held the first round lead.
-5: Burns (F), McIlroy (17)
-3: Kitayama (F), Day (F), Reed (F), Rai (9), Åberg (8), Scheffler (6)
Aaron Rai continues to potter along nicely. In winning the Par-3 Contest yesterday he maintained an unlikely trend because he is, like Sandy Lyle and Ian Woosnam, a former Shropshire county player. Who would ever have thought such an unheralded county would enjoy such success at Augusta National? Could Rai match his two black gloves with a Green Jacket? He’s currently -3 and has just made the turn.
Matthew Fitzpatrick and Bryson DeChambeau were both favoured by many as contenders this week. But both have laboured. The Englishman is level through 17, the American +3. Both find sand from the 18th tee. Fitzpatrick finds more of it near the green, DeChambeau doesn’t even get that far and cries: “Hooking it! Every time!” The third man in their group is Xander Schauffele. He also found the fairway bunker but makes the green and has 20-feet for birdie to get to -3.
2018 champion Patrick Reed reaches the clubhouse on -3. He opened with a birdie and added two par-5 eagles on the front nine. On the way home, he only added two bogeys, but it could have been worse. His short game saved him time and again. Moreover, he putted well which is interesting because he left the course last year (when he finished third) saying: “The putter killed me this week. Really lost my opportunity to win a green jacket because of the putter.” Playing partner Tommy Fleetwood finishes on -1. He was briefly -4 but couldn’t hold his score together as Reed did.
Rory McIlroy hits a nice shot into the par-3 16th. But he knew immediately that he wanted it to sit tight, ushering with his hand for it to hold. It landed on top of the ridge that runs through the green and didn’t hold, instead sliding to the lower tier. He’s not the first to suffer that fate today and he won’t be the last. The putting surface is large enough, the target area is tiny.
Hello, hello – Rory McIlroy had tied the lead at -5! He curls his birdie putt in, letting it slip down the treacherous 15th green. He greets it with a trademark quiet, head high fist pump. The big question ahead of this week was “Would winning the first Green Jacket would free him?” We have an early indication. But it is only that. Let’s not get carried away.
Just give him the Green Jacket now. Photograph: Brian Snyder/ReutersShare
Updated at 15.08 EDT
Sam Burns on his 67: “You need to be in the fairway. Driving the ball well was key. It’s perfect out there. With the forecast – wind and no rain – it’s only going to get faster and harder.”
Rory McIlroy is back on 15, scene of the sensational approach shot that revived his victory bid 12 months ago. After a neat birdie at 14 he is -4 and has the first round lead in his cross hairs. There’s no repeat of last year, however. Then, he had one tree to bend his ball around. Now, he has a curtain of them in front of him. As with the 13th, earlier in the round, he bunts his ball forward. It’s a good job he wasn’t this sensible last April or we’d have missed out on the drama of that final round.
Updated at 14.51 EDT
English debutant Marco Penge is in the last group out today. His life has changed significantly in recent times. 18 months ago, he had to hole a birdie putt on the final round of the final regular event on the 2024 DP World Tour to save his card. 12 months ago, he was watching the Masters on TV. Two weeks later, he won for the first time on the DP World Tour. Six months ago, he won for a third time in the season at the Open de Espana – and the victory came with an invite to Augusta. He also earned a PGA Tour card and has made a solid start to his career in the States. All good. But he’s made a triple bogey-8 at the 2nd. A tough start.
ShareSam Burns set a new and strong clubhouse target of -5.
A round of 67 for the 29-year-old. He averages 73.33 in the first round over his last three visits to Augusta National, but he’s found a very quirky way to do it, carding rounds of 80, 73 and now 67. Remember, he led last year’s US Open through 36 and 54 holes before tumbling away with a final round 78 for T7. Back on 3, his good friend Scottie Scheffler completes a two-putt birdie. He’s -3. “Ominous start,” says Rich Beem on TV.
A good day at the office for Sam Burns Photograph: Mike Blake/ReutersShare
Updated at 14.47 EDT
McIlroy drains the birdie putt at 13 and Reed misses his par putt at 15. We now have a seven-way tie for second. And Scheffler’s drive at the short par-4 3rd has found the edge of the putting surface. Some start from the World No. 1.
-5: Burns (17)
-3: Kitayama (F), Lowry (17), Day (17), Reed (15), Fleetwood (15), McIlroy (13), Rai (6)
“Pretty straightforward shot, this,” says on-course commentator Wayne Riley of the McIlroy pitch at 13. Riley does have a habit of setting McIlroy up for a prat fall, but he’s spot on this time. McIlroy has about 12 feet for birdie. Meanwhile, Scottie Scheffler has opened his account with an eagle-3 at the 2nd.
Rory McIlroy has seen a lot of the trees today and he’s back in them on the par-5 13th. He’s overshot the fairway and is in among the pine straw. He doesn’t try anything fancy. A nice little bunt forward with draw spin into the fairway. It does, however, set up something of a repeat of the duffed pitch into water that threatened to derail his tournament challenge 12 months ago.
We have a new clubhouse leader. Kurt Kitayama ties up a par at 18 for a round of 69 and he’ll take lunch on -3. It’s his third Masters appearance and his best finish is T35 in 2024. Back on the par-5 15th, Patrick Reed hit a fairway wood into the green and he loved it. Full on club twirl, but it clattered through the green and found the water behind, rather than in front of, the putting surface.
The final group has left the first tee and it included Harris English who might better be known as ‘The Nearly Man of Major Golf in 2025’. He was tied second at the PGA Championship and solo second at the Open – both times denied by the World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler. Did he miss his big chance last year? Or can he revive those memories? He was T12 at Augusta last year and he does hail from Georgia. He has quite a vibe, ambling along, chewing gum, giving very little away.
Updated at 14.06 EDT
Thanks Scott. Tommy Fleetwood has been labouring after the turn, with two bogeys and a failure to break par at the long 13th. But he’s back on track with a lovely birdie at 14. He’s back to -3 and his playing partner, Patrick Reed, who has also lost his mojo after the turn, saves par after missing the green. He remains -4.
Jordan Spieth is this close to steering home a huge 55-foot eagle snake from the front of 2. The 2015 champ moves to -1. Birdie as well for Justin Rose, who joins him in the red. And making it three out of three, Brooks Koepka, who repairs the damage of a three-putt bogey on the opening hole by nearly chipping in for eagle. His birdie takes him back to level par.
… and with that, I’ll hand you over to Matt Cooper, who is champing at the bit to take this baby home. Enjoy the rest of today’s golf, and see you tomorrow afternoon.
Sam Burns finds the heart of 15 with two big blows. He’s left with a treacherous downhill 40-footer for eagle, and does very well to tickle it pin high, before tidying up from three feet. Meanwhile we were misinformed about Patrick Reed on 13: turns out he hadn’t laid up, was in fact hitting his third shot with his wedge … and so when he rolls in the aforementioned putt he’s left himself, does so for par! That’s a fine scramble in the end. But he’s no longer leading the Masters.
-5: Burns (15)
-4: Reed (13)
-3: Kitayama (17), Lowry (14), Rai (5)
The world number one Scottie Scheffler takes to the tee! The 2022 and 2024 champion finds the second cut down the left. He’s going round with last year’s US Open runner-up, Robert MacIntyre, who sends a fairway wood in a similar direction. The final member of the match is the 2019 US Open winner Gary Woodland, whose recent win in Houston was so life-affirming. There’d be few more popular winners if Woodland made it this week. He sends one down the middle.
Scottie Scheffler gets going on his first round Photograph: Chris Torres/EPAShare
Updated at 13.58 EDT
A spot of bother for the co-leader Patrick Reed on 13. He lays up in front of Rae’s Creek. The conservative play, but you’ve got to get your wedge close … and Reed hits a skinny one over the back. He putts up from the swale, and seriously overcooks it. The ball rolls 15 feet past, and suddenly a double is staring him in the face.
Another birdie for the Par 3 Contest champ Aaron Rai! This one a tramliner across the par-three 4th. Back-to-back birdies for the 2011 runner-up Jason Day at 12 and 13. A careless bogey for Tommy Fleetwood at 12, as he fails to get up and down from greenside. And Justin Rose has a route to the green from the trees down the left of 1. He finds the front of the dancefloor, then nearly drains the monster putt for birdie. All happening at the top of the Leader Board.
-4: Burns (14), Reed (12)
-3: Lowry (13), Rai (4)
-2: Kitayama (16), Taylor (14), Day (13), Fleetwood (12), Schauffele (12), McIlroy (10), Couples (4)
-1: Li (F), Bhatia (12), Campbell (8), Garcia (4)
Shane Lowry holes out from 99 yards on the par-five 13th! A gentle wedge straight at the flag, a couple of bounces, and in! A huge grin and a high-five with his caddie to celebrate the eagle! But disaster for Bryson DeChambeau on 11, where he takes three to get out of a bunker, on his way to a triple-bogey seven. Lowry is -3, DeChambeau +3.
The group that follows is also not short of star power. Brooks Koepka, Jordan Spieth and Justin Rose, with nine majors between them. It’s not the ideal start for Rose, last year’s runner-up, as he pulls his opening tee shot and may well have snookered himself behind a tree.
Jon Rahm has been hotly tipped to add to his 2023 win this week. But the 31-year-old Spaniard starts out with bogey at Tea Olive. Pars meanwhile for his playing partners, Ludvig Åberg, who came second here on debut two years ago and briefly led on Sunday last year, and the promising Chris Gotterup, who came third at last year’s Open. Now that is a stellar group.
Jon Rahm and Ludvig Åberg on the opening tee. Photograph: Petter Arvidson/BILDBYRÅN/ShutterstockShare
Updated at 13.29 EDT
A disappointing end to Jose Maria Olazabal’s round. The 1994 and 1999 champion flew out of the traps with birdies at 2 and 3, and kept parring his way around until finally dropping a shot at 14. Then he found the water at 15 on his way to a double, and failed to make a sandy par at 16. Four shots gone in the blink of an eye, and the 60-year-old living legend signs for a two-over 74. Just for the record, he’s making his 37th start here this week. Godspeed tomorrow, Ollie, hope you make it to the weekend.
Rory McIlroy took a while to get going. But now he’s motoring. His second into 9, from 116 yards, lands past the bunker front-left and uses the camber of the green to the left of the pin to bring his ball round to ten feet. That’s such a clever and well-executed shot. In goes the birdie putt, and all of a sudden he’s right in the mix!
-4: Burns (13), Reed (11)
-3: Reitan (14), Fleetwood (11)
-2: Taylor (12), Bhatia (11), Schauffele (10), McIlroy (9), Couples (2), Rai (2)
-1: Li (F), Kitayama (14), Lowry (11), Campbell (7), N Hojgaard (5), Fang -a- (4), Garcia (2)
Aaron Rai won the Par 3 Contest last night. And he doesn’t appear particularly worried about the Contest’s hex: nobody has ever won both Contest and Masters Tournament in the same year. But the 31-year-old from Wolverhampton has opened with birdies at 1 and 2. Could Rai go better than these gentlemen, the Par 3 Contest winners who came closest to Masters glory days later?
Runner-up (lost in play-off): Raymond Floyd (1990)
Runner-up: Chip Beck (1993)
Fourth: Arnold Palmer (1967)
Tied fourth: Ben Crenshaw (1987), Luke Donald (2011)
Tied fifth: Tom Watson (1982)
Sam Burns grabs a share of the lead with birdie at the par-five 13th. Xander Schauffele is also heading in the right direction, fizzing his second at 10 from 200 yards to ten feet, and walking in the putt. Schauffele’s playing partner Bryson DeChambeau does exceptionally well to save his par, putting up from the bank at the back, a delicate effort that only just reaches the green before taking a 90-degree right-hand turn and rolling out towards the hole. Some job just to stop it trundling six feet past. The best he could do, and he tidies up to remain at level par.
-4: Burns (13), Reed (10)
-3: Reitan (14), Fleetwood (10)
If you’ve been hanging around here all day, you’ll recall the early travails of poor Carlos Ortiz. The 34-year-old Mexican, on just his second appearance at the Masters, started 5-7-5-4-6, a run of three bogeys and two doubles. He was +7 through 5. So he’s done very well to finish the day with an 80, +8 overall. That’s two strokes better than his opening round of 82 on debut in 2021, so onwards and upwards.
Another loose drive by Rory, this time down the right of 8. But this time it doesn’t cost him. He fires a stinger under some overhanging branches and into the heart of the green, twirling his fairway wood afterwards in contented fashion. His ball scampers up to 20 feet, and though he timidly underhits the eagle putt, he gets close enough to make birdie and move into red figures again. He’s not brought his best stuff this morning, but he’s still only three off the lead at -1.
Bogeys for the leading pair of Patrick Reed and Tommy Fleetwood at 10. Neither found the green in regulation; neither could chip up close from the bottom of the swale. Meanwhile a bounceback birdie for Kurt Kitayama on 13 – plus a birdie-birdie start for the 1992 champion Freddie Couples! – and the top of the League Board suddenly looks rather different.
-4: Reed (10)
-3: Reitan (13), Burns (12), Fleetwood (10)
-2: Kitayama (13), Taylor (12), Bhatia (10), Harman (2), Couples (2)
Kristoffer Reitan is making his Masters debut today. The 28-year-old from Oslo becomes just the second Norwegian to compete at Augusta National, following Viktor Hovland, and he’s just catapulted himself up the Leader Board by nearly slam-dunking his second into the cup at 13, then rolling in the 25-footer from the fringe at the back for eagle! He’s -3.
Sam Burns makes a move towards the leaders. He sends his tee shot at the famous par-three 12th, Golden Bell, to 20 feet. In goes the downhill left-to-right slider, and he rises to -3. Meanwhile it’s a birdie-birdie start for Brian Harman, the 2023 Open champion becoming the latest of the shorter hitters to make a mark this week. Just the 70 more holes to go.
Xander Schauffele nearly holes out from a deep bunker to the left of 9. He whips out elegantly, the ball dropping almost on the shoulder of the trap, kicking straight left and rolling gently towards the hole. It stops one dimple short of dropping for birdie. But that’s a sandy save he’d have grabbed with both hands a moment ago. The two-time major winner turns in 35.
Birdie for Tommy Fleetwood at 9! It comes after an approach from 150 yards to 13 feet. Pin high, not too much movement in the putt, and he’s out in 32. His playing partner Patrick Reed pars to hit the turn in 31 of your golfing strokes.
-5: Reed (9)
-4: Fleetwood (9)
-2: Burns (11), Taylor (10), Bhatia (9), Stevens (6), Campbell (5)
-1: Li (F), Kitayama (12), Reitan (12), Lowry (10), Schauffele (8), M Kim (3), Harman (1), Couples (1)
Rory McIlroy hit one of the shots of his life last year from the 17th fairway on Sunday. He hits another fine one from there now … though he’s playing the 7th hole at the time. His driver is seriously misbehaving today. But he finds the fringe of the green with his second back over the trees, before getting up and down for par. The defending champion remains at level par.
Rory McIlroy hits his approach on the 7th from the, er, 17th fairway. Photograph: Mike Blake/ReutersShare
Updated at 12.45 EDT
Kurt Kitayama becomes the first highly visible victim of Rae’s Creek. From the back of 12, he clunks a wedge through the green, down the bank, and in. He does very well to limit the resulting damage to double bogey by taking his drop, chipping to 15 feet, and sinking the putt. But having briefly led the Masters all on his own, he’s now back in the pack at -1.
Xander Schauffele sends his tee shot at the par-five 8th into the patrons down the left … and into someone’s shopping bag. Let’s hope that hasn’t broken their gnome. It’s kinda broken Schauffele’s concentration, though. Once it’s all sorted out, he sends a poor chip into the green, followed by a weak putt. Just a par. He remains at -1.
Shane Lowry has done very well to bounce back from those miserable par-threes. Having doubled 4 and bogeyed 6, he’s just carded back-to-back birdies at 8 and 9 to move back into red figures. Meanwhile, having given short-hitting Brian Campbell the big-up, he misses the 4th green short and right, en route to his first dropped shot of the day. He’s back to -2.
All change at the top! A three-putt bogey for Kurt Kitayama on 11. Meanwhile, Patrick Reed finds the front of the par-five 8th in two big hits … then sends a big right-to-left swinger from downtown for eagle! His second eagle of the day! That putt from 56 feet. Hope he’s got plenty of space on his shelves for all the crystal he’ll be getting from the Club this evening. And it’s a birdie-birdie-birdie start now for Brian Campbell, taking full advantage of the fiery conditions that benefit the shorter hitters.
-5: Reed (8)
-3: Kitayama (11), Fleetwood (8), Campbell (3)
-2: Burns (10), Bhatia (8)
Haotong Li doesn’t have much of a record at the Masters. A tie for 32nd on debut in 2018 is the Chinese star’s best result so far. But he does have a third-place finish at the 2017 Open to his name, plus a tie for fourth at the same event last year, and that latter effort gained him entry to this Masters. He was out first this morning, and was going along quietly until crashing his second at the par-five 15th from 233 yards to 18 feet. It wasn’t quite up there with Rory’s famous shot last Sunday … but the eagle putt was better. In it went, and Li has ended the day with a one-under 71. Thursday’s very, very, very, very, very early clubhouse leader.
Anyone for memories of the 1980 and 1983 champion, the legendary Seve Ballesteros? Yes, me too, so please let me recommend this episode of This Golfing Life, a wonderful new golf podcast hosted by the award-winning journalist and author Dan Davies. (Fans of Paddington and Maurice Flitcroft may enjoy this episode too.) Get on it.
Updated at 12.07 EDT
Another birdie for Kurt Kitayama, who snatches the lead for himself! He batters his drive downhill at the par-four 10th, then arrows his second back uphill from 187 yards to six feet! An outrageously good approach, and it gets the reward it deserves. Meanwhile … remember what we were saying about the conditions, and how they could help some of the shorter hitters? Well, here’s the shortest hitter on the PGA Tour last year, Brian Campbell, with birdies at 1 and 2. It’ll be within reach for one and all this week.
-4: Kitayama (10)
-3: Reed (7), Fleetwood (7)
-2: Olazabal (13), Burns (9), Campbell (2)
Bryson DeChambeau tugs his tee shot at 6 into the gallery down the left. It hits some poor patron slap bang in the special section of his trousers: the shot felt ‘round the world. The brave chap doesn’t crumple to the ground, while Bryson’s ball screws back off the cluster and onto the edge of the green. Unlucky for the patron, who gets a signed ball by way of apology, but lucky for Bryson, who chips up to three feet and tidies up for par.
Kurt Kitayama joins the leaders at -3! He makes his third birdie in four holes, the latest at 9 being reward for landing his approach pin high to six feet. Out in 33. This is an unexpected charge from the 33-year-old from California, whose best result at Augusta is a tie for 35th a couple of years ago; his only notable result in a major championship is a tie for fourth at the 2023 PGA Championship, thanks to a final round of 65 that whisked him up the standings from nowhere. And even that went pretty much unnoticed, with everyone talking about 46-year-old club pro Michael Block’s ace that day. Well, he’s in our line of sight now.
-3: Kitayama (9), Reed (6), Fleetwood (6)
-2: Olazabal (12), Burns (8)