By Doug Ferguson- AP
Masters Rd. 1 Leaderboard
AUGUSTA, Ga. – Justin Rose made birdie on the first three holes at Augusta National Golf Club on Thursday and hardly slowed down.
The 44-year-old Englishman, competing in his 20th Masters, birdied six of the first 10 holes and posted 7-under 65, tying his career low in the tournament, to grab the first-round lead at the 89th Masters.
His lone hiccup came at 18 where he made bogey, but when Ludvig Aberg noticed Rose’s name atop the leaderboard he took notice.
“We were walking down, I can’t remember what hole it was, and he got it to 8 at some point, which we were like, that’s pretty impressive,” Aberg said.
Still, Rose set a tournament record — the fifth time that he has held or shared the 18-hole lead at the Masters. Rose, who lost a playoff in 2017 to Sergio Garcia, has top-25 finishes in 11 of the past 14 years at Augusta National and was also runner-up to Jordan Spieth a decade ago.
“I feel like I’ve played well enough to win this tournament,” Rose said. “I just feel like I don’t have the jacket to prove it.”
Rose, who has won a major at the 2013 U.S. Open, an Olympic Gold, reached world No. 1, been a Ryder Cup hero and won around the world, isn’t missing much on his resume. He says he’s in “the Indian Summer” of his career, showing his “good is good again” with a T-6 at the PGA Championship last May and T-2 at the British Open in July.
“The fact that I had those types of results on those types of courses gave me a lot of hope,” he said. “And then at The Open Championship, again, I felt like I actually played the golf there to win.”
At this stage in his career, Rose determined he needs to improve his wedge game from 75-125 yards, his bunker play and find more fairways to compete with the young bombers on Tour. Nothing would do more to solidify his legacy than winning a second major.
“I do feel that I could make a statement with how well I played the back end of my career. That’s a great opportunity though, for me, not pressure,” he said. “I see it all as upside now.”
How did Justin Rose do compared to defending champion Scottie Scheffler?
Rose’s flying start was three shots better than defending champion Scottie Scheffler, who had a hot putter in the bag. Scheffler matched the lowest first nine holes by a defending champion, shooting 3-under 33. On a warm, sunny day with barely a breath of wind, Scheffler birdied both of the par 5s on the first nine, sinking a 7-foot birdie at the second and 14-foot birdie at 8. But he was particularly deadly from long range at the par 3s, draining a 62-foot birdie putt at No. 4 and a 42-foot birdie putt at 16.
“I had a feeling the golf course was going to get pretty firm,” Scheffler said. “The areas to hit your irons out here are pretty small and they get even smaller when the greens are firm, so there’s definitely some challenge to the golf course today, and I’m sure that’ll continue as the week goes on.”
Scottie Scheffler aims to be fourth to go back-to-back at Masters
With a victory, Scheffler, who also won the Masters in 2022, would join Jack Nicklaus, who claimed the Green Jacket in 1963, 1965 and ’66, as the only players to win the Masters three times in a four-year stretch. He’s also seeking to join Nicklaus, Nick Faldo (1989, 1990) and Tiger Woods (2001-02) as players to successfully defend their title. Scheffler is winless this season and missed two early season starts due to hand surgery after cutting himself on a wine glass while make ravioli on Christmas. But he has been working hard on his game and finished second at his most recent start at the Houston Open.
“I think sometimes you can just feel a little bit out of sorts. That’s why I said I felt more prepared than I have all year just because of time. I’ve had time to get reps in, tournament reps. I got into contention in Houston. That was really good,” Scheffler explained. “Just felt like I was in a good spot and my game was starting to trend in the right direction.”
Sweden’s Aberg birdied four of the last seven holes to shoot 68. “It was sneaky hard. There isn’t a ton of wind, but it still swirls,” he said. “I felt like we played a very disciplined round of golf today.”
Canadian Corey Conners birdied three of the last four holes to match Scheffler with 68. The 33-year-old, in his eighth Masters appearance, has a solid track record at Augusta National with top-10 finishes in 2020, 2021 and 2022.
“It’s a golf course that I love coming to. I don’t know how you couldn’t love coming here,” Conners said. “Yeah, I feel like the course does suit my eye really well and plays into some of my strengths.”
At the suggestion of his father, Conners switched to a center-shafted putter at the Arnold Palmer Invitational to improve upon a weakness with the short stick and he’s been doing a better job of finding his lines.
“He was all over me to try it out,” Conners said of his father. “I wasn’t really looking to make a change, but it’s been a good change.”
Rory McIlroy was cruising along at 4 under until he made a pair of double bogeys at Nos. 15 and 17 and signed for a disappointing even-par 72.
Tyrrell Hatton and Bryson DeChambeau were off to the best start of the 12 LIV golfers in the field. The reigning U.S. Open champ made seven birdies but sprinkled in four bogeys.
“It’s a great start,” DeChambeau said. “Anytime you’re under par at the Masters, it’s an honor to be there.”
Hatton, a 33-year-old Englishman, birdied three of the first 12 holes and made his lone bogey of the day at 17 en route to 69.
“It’s just so hard,” Hatton said of the course. “It’s like, you love being here and it’s very special, but at any moment you can hit a shot and it does your head in. I just need to keep hitting perfect shots.”
A Hole by Hole Look at the Masters
