Misery Had Company on First Day of Masters

Apr 05, 09:40 PM

Current Headlines: AUGUSTA, Ga. _ Ever since the people who run Augusta National made all those diabolical changes, saying, "we'll fix `em" to the long hitters who were toying with their prize golf course, they've been waiting for a week of dry, windy weather to show off the full extent of their tinkering.

You could tell by the absence of what makes the Masters distinctive _ the roars _ that their week might finally be here.

Confounded by swirling winds and punished by speeding greens, the Masters field did its best to survive the first round on Thursday. Birdies were scarce, bogeys almost unavoidable. And by the looks of the forecast, it's only the beginning of their troubles.

Justin Rose and Brett Wetterich had to play brilliantly to shoot 3-under par 69s, the highest first-round leading score since 1999, with David Toms and David Howell a shot back. Five other players, none of them Tiger Woods, broke par. But for the most part, misery had company with a scoring average of 76.2 as 82 golfers were over par on the hard, fast track.

"Every hole was borderline, on the edge," said Steve Stricker. "I was nervous on chips where every other week, I'm trying to hole them."

"That's the hardest golf course with wide fairways and no rough I've ever played," said a battered Nick O'Hern. "I shot 76 and it felt like I shot 2-under."

Woods, by the way, shot 73 and felt like he shot 80.

"I played better than my score indicates," an upset Woods said after a bogey-bogey finish. "I just threw away a good round of golf. I went from right there to all of a sudden over par. I worked all day to get level and threw it away on the last two holes."

Woods has never broken 70 in a first round at Augusta yet so perhaps he is right where he needs to be. As for defending champ Phil Mickelson, he managed to save a spiraling round with birdies at Nos. 15 and 16 for a 76. His target score Friday is 68, and he'll probably need it.

At least, from Woods' and Mickelson's perspective, the top of the leaderboard isn't overly impressive, with Toms and Rich Beem the only major winners among the top nine.

Rose, in fact, hadn't played in six weeks because of a bad back. But even though he hadn't played here since 2004, he's no newbie on the big leaderboard. That year, he shared the tournament lead after 36 holes. He finished tied for 22nd.

"I think I learned that one day or two days is so far away from winning the golf tournament," he said. "This golf course demands respect. Last time I chased my score a little bit and ended up taking on shots I really shouldn't have."

The Englishman made only five greens but said that's a bit deceiving because he kept leaving himself reasonable chances to get up and down. He even holed out from the bunker on the fifth hole. That impressed his playing partner, Jose Maria Olazabal, a two-time Masters champ.

"He didn't miss many shots and was very good around the greens with his chipping and putting," Olazabal said. "That is the recipe at Augusta National if you are an average hitter."

Unlike Rose, Wetterich is one of the big hitters on the PGA Tour. He's also a Masters rookie, although he played with confidence after going toe-to-toe with Woods at Doral, where he finished second. In a way, he said, Thursday's conditions might have worked in his favor as he made five birdies.

"Not having bad thoughts of any changes, it definitely doesn't hurt me," he said.

The swirling winds even affected short shots onto the greens while putts ran out on greens that were already at Sunday speed. With the fairways hard, you might get more distance off the tee, but they were mowed and rolled backward so that the grain itself cut off the roll.

The fear most players have is that it's only going to get harder.

"That was probably the best we're going to catch the course," said Davis Love III, who shot an even-par 72. "It's going to get tougher and tougher. By the time we made the turn, the moisture was out of the golf course and it's just going to get harder every day with no rain."

"We always wish for dry, fast, firm conditions," Howell said. "Be careful what we wish for."

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