Thursday's benign conditions, sunny skies and little wind made for ideal scoring and as a result 45 of the 92 players shot par or better, with journeyman Aussie Mark Leishman and Sergio Garcia atop the list at -6 66.
Dustin Johnson, next at -5 67 and guys similar length off the tee are making a mockery of the recently re-vamped Augusta National, for example he had a 9 iron second into 13 and a wedge into 15 .. both par 5's, and in both cases the big boys are just back to ripping it a mile high over the corner and completely bypassing all the design features that are supposed to make it a drive drawn around the corner, then a risk and reward decision, 3 wood or long iron from the top of the hill over the pond or Rae's Creek, or lay up for your wedge third..
Six players are at -4 68 including Kuchar, evergreen Freddie Couples, and Rickie Fowler who shot -4 despite two doubles..
Tiger was out in -2 34 but strangely came back in E, for a pedestrian 70, and every time Rory would make a birdie, he'd follow it with a bogey, he finished up at 72.
Mike Weir playing at three quarter speed was delighted to be around with +1 73, the same score that the teenage sensation Tianlang Guan posted, including a chip in at 18.
Dave Perkins joined me from the Media Center to say the rains expected overnight did not arrive, just a little sprinkling, although there are thunder showers in the forecast. Even if it did rain, the new sub air system under every green means they greens keepers can dry them out very quickly.
I expect another day of low scoring, many of the guys had trouble with the greens being slower than usual believe it or not, Mickelson said they look fast but they are not what he has become accustom to, but that will change as the weekend wears on and they will be running as of old come Sunday.
For tee times and live scoring click http://www.majorschampionships.com/masters/leaderboard.html
No comments:
Post a Comment