Masters Tee Times Leaderboard
Weather: Today's forecast
Mainly sunny low 49*f high 79*f, wind ENE shifting SE 5-10mph
Mostly sunny conditions will persist through the rest of the week with temperatures warming further, reaching the mid 80's by Saturday and Sunday
" The greens were already getting slippery, and I had an early morning Thursday tee time. Not much fun for us players, but probably for everyone watching"
These words of warning from the 18 hole co leader and defending champion Rory McIlroy in his post T1 -5 67 round interviews.
We rarely pray for rain when we go golfing, but that is exactly what Augusta National badly needs, but will not get as we move into Friday and the weekend with the field now fully aware that patience will be their best friend for the next 3 days.
Sam Burns was out early with his well played -5 67 but all eyes were on Rory who was driving it all over the front nine, he only hit 5 fairways all day but summed his day up " when I was hitting it into the woods on the front nine I just said to myself, I'll just go find it and figure it out"
He did just that, scrambling , making a lot of those inevitable 5 footers for par that will prove invaluable when he goes out late on Friday.
Jason Day, Kurt Kitayama and DP World Tour leader and former Masters champion Patrick Reed with 2 eagles, are T3 -3 69.
Scott Scheffler was next to get the TV attention on this marathon Thursday coverage, he drove it better than of late, but like all the rest could not trust his iron approaches or even what are his automatic inside 6 foot putts, visible shocked when at least three lipped out or slid by, and approaches bounced past the flag and off the sloping greens for T6 -2 70.
Still he along with Justin Rose who finished bogey bogey to dampen another a brilliant opening performance, Shane Lowry and Xander Schauffele joIn him just 3 shots back at T6 -2 70
It was disaster day for two of the LIV stars, robotic Bryson De Chambeau with bunker trouble at his triple bogey 7 at the 11th derailing his day T56 +4 76 and a furious former champion, Jon Rahm T73 +6 78, they were not alone.
Canadians
T10 Nick Taylor -1 71 (steady 15 pars, out 1 birdie -1 35, in 1 birdie 1 bogey 36 )
T48 Corey Conners +3 75 with an eagle and a chip in " all I can do tomorrow is try to claw my way back in so I can be around for the weekend"
T86 Mike Weir +9 81
OPINION
*With the cut hovering around +3 only the top 50 and ties will make the weekend. Currently 55 players are at +3 or better, this number will likely slip to +4 as Augusta National continues to get harder and faster.
*Only 16 players broke par on Thursday.
* It is possible since we know the weather will simply make these greens impossible if not unplayable that I bring you the highest winning scores.
* 289 +1 is that number reached 3 times Sam Snead 1954, Jack Burke 1956, Zach Johnson 2007
* Even 6 time winner... 288 E Jack Nicklaus 1966, 286, -2 Jack Nicklaus 1963,1972
* Watch for the early tee times beginning 740am today with 49* to have the advantage with fresh greens, before the heat. Here are some big names.
* Early: Corey Conners 9.19, Tyrrell Hatton 9.31, Rahm, Gotterup, Aberg 9.43, Rose, Keopka 9.55, Scott Scheffler 10.19
*Late: Nick Taylor 12.44, Shane Lowry 12.56, Patrick Reed, Tommy Fleetwood 1.08, DeChambeau, Fitzpatrick, Schauffele 1.20, Cam Young, Rory McIlroy 1.44
Bryan Angus
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