UPDATING...Friday 11.30am
As I said early this morning, it's cool, 14*c, the wind is swirling, a more difficult scoring day perhaps.
* PIN Placements for today https://twitter.com/#!/ESPN_Golf/status/56342959502786560 The committee have eased off in the pin placements today, here is a pic of the chart the players use.
*Lee Westwood has opened with 5 straight pars, this is where he made 4 straight birdies yesterday. He still leads at -5
*at -4, Jason Dufner is -1 today through 6 and Ben Crane also -4 is at -1 today through 8
* at -3 there are 7 golfers, and Rory is up to -2 with a birdie at 3 after 2 opening pars.
* #1 is still playing very tough as I outlined earlier, Weirsy like so many doubled it moments ago, but came back with a birdie on the par 5 2nd, so is at +1.
* the field is reversed today, so Tiger 1.42pm Luke 1.53pm etal are the late flight. I have to say a day like today is the norm in the UK, so while the commentators are all talking about the cold blustery weather, the European Tour players, especially the guys from the UK will be right at home.
* Ian Poulter who hasn't MC in 7 previous Masters, with 4 T25's has gone out in -2 34...
* Sergio is -2 tody through 4 after an opening E72.
* Louis Oosthuizen is +3 through 10 holes this morning..-1 total..
* Rory has another birdie, this one at the par 3 4th, now -3 T5..
* Weirsy has just made bogey at the par 3 6th so is at +2
* Peter Hanson opened with a double and has just gone birdie,birdie,birdie to join his Ryder Cup colleague Lee Westwood in the lead at -5. Lee is tied with Colin Montgomerie and Doug Sanders for most top-three finishes in a major without a victory. Westwood’s six have all come in his last 14 starts.
* Mickelson has just birdied the par 3 4th to go -2 today E overall.
* Weirsy is now +4 through 8, the talented amateur Patrick Cantley is now +4 on today's round
* Paul Lawrie had made birdie at #2 to get to -4 T3
12.42pm Rory has just made birdie at #7 to get to -4, and Sergio is now at -4 today with another birdie on 8.. The leaders are still Lee Westwood with nothing but pars through 9 -5 total and Peter Hanson with a double and 3 birdies also at -5..
* very strong looking European Tour top 10 leaderboard right now at 12.54pm
FINAL UPDATE
In the end,Rory McIlroy charged up the leaderboard. Lee Westwood is right there. So is Sergio Garcia and even Phil Mickelson but none of them are the leader..
That honour falls to 52 year old Fred Couples who putted and played beautifully for a -5 67, along with the guy who just won't go away, Jason Dufner -2 70 -5 total. Dufner came to our attention when he led the Keegan Bradley PGA Championship by 5 shots with 4 holes to go, and he has been all over PGA tour leaderboards without winning so far this year.
Freddie made three straight birdies to close out the front nine. He knocked down a pitching wedge from 105 yards to tap-in range, then rolled in a 35-foot putt up the hill on the ninth. His loudest cheer of the day came on the par-3 16th, when his 18-foot birdie putt slid across the green before turning right and tracking right into the hole.
Lee Westwood was making par upon par as I wrote earlier, finally made bogey at 11, but bounced back with birdies at 12 and 15 and would be leading if not for a double on 18 after three-putting from short range for 73 -4.
I didn't think Sergio would be a factor after he picked up an infection in the nail of his middle finger on the right hand. However he made six birdies in his round of -4 68.
Also at -4, 140 are Bubba Watson, who had a 71, and Louis Oosthuizen, who rallied from a miserable start with three birdies late in his round to salvage a 72. The group two shots behind at -3 are Paul Lawrie (72), Matt Kuchar (70) and Miguel Angel Jimenez (72)
Mickelson came back from 74 with -4 68, including a fist pumping 20 footer at 18 to get to -2, and I thought he said it best when referring to the tightly bunched field," the course will need to dry out and start running fast if we are not going to have 20 guys with a chance come Sunday afternoon."
Tiger had another bad day, shooting +3 75, made only 1 birdie, at the 3rd, all day, he only hit 2 greens on the back nine, didn't birdie one of the par 5's, dropped clubs, cussed, yanked a 4 iron into the gallery, he is at +3
75's as well for Kaymer and Schwartzel who are +3, Luke looks out of it 75,73 +4 and Mike Weir had a miserable 79 and MC at +7 as did everyone at +6 and worse
63 players will start play at 9.15am Saturday.
Friday at 5.15am ...Dawn is still over an hour away in Augusta and it is a cool, rainy morning, currently 57*F or 14*c. Here is the actual forecast.
Today: Scattered thunderstorms during the morning. Partly cloudy skies this afternoon. High 68F (20*c) Winds NNE at 10 to 20 mph. Chance of rain 50%.
Tonight: Mainly clear. Low 43F. Winds NE at 5 to 10 mph.
Tomorrow: Mainly sunny. High 74F. Winds NNE at 5 to 10 mph.
Tomorrow night: Clear skies. Low 49F. Winds light and variable.
Sunday: Times of sun and clouds. Highs in the upper 70s and lows in the low 50s.
T'Storms of course can mean weather delays, however yesterday gloom and doom was forecast and it all moved through with play being uninterrupted.
Here are today's tee times, the first scheduled for 7.50am est..
http://www.majorschampionships.com/masters/2012/scoring/tee_times.cfm
live scoring click here http://www.majorschampionships.com/masters/2012/scoring/index.cfm
Looking back
While Westwood with his -5 67 leads, Ryder Cup partner Peter Hanson and Louis Oosthuizen are a shot back at -4 68 Six players, 3 from Europe, FMolinari, Jimenz and Lawrie and 3 from the States, Crane, Dufner and Bubba are at -3 69
Rory McIlroy birdied his last two holes to shoot 71, while Tiger Woods shot even-par 72 with 2 bogey's to finish and Phil Mickelson shot +2 74. Luke Donald, ranked No. 1 in the world, shot 75 and said mud balls cost him at least 2 shots. He had a scare with a possible incorrect scorecard until this..The official announcement has just been made in the media center: “Luke Donald signed for a correct score of 3-over 75, including a bogey 5 on the fifth hole. Due to an administrative error an incorrect score on the fifth hole was entered into our scoring system. That error has has been corrected.”
Westwood, who finished second two years ago,is looking for his first major win, produced a solid ball-striking round, hitting 12 of 14 fairways and 16 of 18 greens. The 67 ties for his low round at Augusta National. In the last 25 years, only one first-round leader at the Masters has gone on to win the tournament: Trevor Immelman in 2008.
* Henrik Stenson proved why you have to play all 18. At -5 standing on 18 tee, he was enjoying the round of the day, his best by far at Augusta. Then disaster..A drive in the trees, a couple of whacks in the pine straw, over the green in 5, then 3 putts for an 8, the highest score ever at the final hole, and went from the lead at -5 to sign for -1,71
*lift clean and place would have been in effect at any other tour event, however not at Augusta and mud balls were a big problem, albeit for everyone.. Zach Johnson, who shot a -2 70, said he had a mud ball on every fairway, with four of his approach shots affected.
Louis Oosthuizen said his approach shot at No. 1 was affected by the mud.“We knew beforehand that you are going to have to deal with this,” Oosthuizen said. “It’s just one of those things.”
* I believe the committee was worried about Phil's birdiefest interview because the players said after their rounds that pins were in more difficult positions than usual for a first round.“There definitely were some Sunday pin positions out there,” said Rory after his -1 71. “They set the pin positions up pretty tough probably thinking guys were going to go low because it was so soft.”
* speaking of Phil, did you see him on 18. He called for the referee because one of those screw in weights on his driver that Calloway spends millions advertising, came loose. He was allowed to use an Allen key to tighten it up and proceeded to rip one of his best of the day. (You are allowed to return your club to it's original state of play without penalty )
He had 4 bogey's and a triple on 10 where he lost his ball with a huge slice, but he birdies 2 of his last 4 for +2 74 and said after "I am putting great, if I can get hot Friday I'll be right back in it "
* Hole number 1 was the toughest.
* 6 Double Bogeys,
26 Bogeys
3 Birdies
0 Eagles
* the par 5's (2,8 13,15) were the easiest giving up 151 birdies and 8 eagles..
* Mike Weir is tied with Tiger in 29th after E72. He made 1 bogey on the front at 7 out in 37, and after bogey's at 10 and 11 I thought here we go, but a beauty of a birdie on 12, then 2 more on 13 and 15 got him in on 35, a solid day in his recovery. He told my partner Bob Weeks that he " can't practice like I did when I was 22, but am trying to get back to that, it's a process.."
* Nice to see Vijay Singh get a big cheer on 18 when he rolled in a birdie putt from just off the green to finish at -2 70. When Vijay turns 50 next February 22, he is going to take a ton of money out of the old guys pockets. He was taught to play by his Dad, modelled his swing after Tom WeiskopfVijay hitting endless buckets of balls..
* For those who thought Tiger was back, rid of all his swing problems, think again. Two weeks removed from winning at Bay Hill, Woods, who is ranked first in total driving on the PGA TOUR, hit just six fairways. "Warmed up bad, and it continued on the golf course,” Woods said. Same old motor patterns with all the clubs, The Hank [Haney] backswing with a new downswing.”
He yanked his opening tee shot left and into the trees before scrambling to make par. Then on #2 he went left again, this time had an unplayable but since it is a par 5, he took a drop and again scrambled to save par.
He was the erratic Tiger of old off the tee, missing left, including on the 18th, where he had to take another unplayable lie when he was stymied against a tree.
Still E72, he has had a lot of poor first rounds. In fact only once has he broke 70 in 17 visits to Augusta National. Ten times he’s shot 72 or worse.
So it's now 7.50am Friday, O'Hair, Verplank and Gonzo are about to start what will be another long, maybe real long with the weather forecast, cool, damp day at Augusta, I will try and find the pin sheets for you to see if the committee has eased up on their placements, if not expect the field to stay bunched.
I will be here most all day with live scoring, my opinions, story's as they happen, so join me with your comments, and remember I am on www.isr1050.com and you can here my golf report Sunday mornings at 845am on tsn1050radio on the International Sports Report.
Bryan Angus also on twitter@mummmbles and at www.isr1050.com
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