Only 19 break par in ideal conditions at Augusta

Here is your live scoreboard as the 78th Masters is well under way after a beautiful sunny Thursday at Augusta.

Canadians:  Mike Weir +1 73   Graham DeLaet  +8 80


Round 1

Despite ideal, I mean ideal scoring conditions,only 19 players broke par on Thursday, as I mentioned in my preview, the pins were tucked as tough as I've seen on day one, and with the sun beating down the legendary greens just kept getting faster.

Defending champion Adam Scott made only one bad swing that cost him two shots in a round of 3-under 69. It was the lowest opening score by a defending champion in 13 years, and it left Scott one shot behind leader Bill Haas on an otherwise demanding day.

Some say he's pretty boring but Bill Haas, with a rich family history at Augusta that includes a green jacket for his great uncle Bob Goalby, settled down after an opening bogey with a collection of good birdie putts and an 8-iron to 5 feet for birdie on the 18th for a 68.

Only one first-round leader in the last 30 years has gone on to win the Masters.

Bubba Watson played bogey-free and shot a -3 69. So did Louis Oosthuizen, whom Watson beat in a playoff at Augusta in 2012. They were the only players to break 70, the fewest for an opening round at the Masters since 2007.

In my preview I wrote about Scott's calm demeanor this year, and yesterday he seemed in control of his emotions and his game all day except for once.when the fans behind the 12th tee rose in unison to cheer him, then he promptly bounced his tee shot off the front slope and into Rae’s Creek and he made double bogey to fall out of the outright lead. He picked up a birdie on the 14th, and three-putted for par on both the par 5s on the back nine.

There were many wrecks as usual, for example Jason Dufner took a quadruple-bogey 9 on the 13th hole with only one penalty shot. The worst of his woes was a wedge from the drop area that didn’t even make it to the creek. He wound up with an 80 in his first round in a major since winning the PGA Championship last summer.

He was in good company. Phil Mickelson had a pair of 7s on his card for the first time in five years at a major, and his 76 matched the highest opening round at Augusta for the three-time Masters champion. Mickelson made a triple-bogey at the seventh hole, where he knocked it back-and-forth past the cup a staggering four times before finally sinking a putt. He took double-bogey when he dumped one in the water at No. 15

U.S. Open champion Justin Rose shot 40 on the front and scrambled for a 76. Jason Day had a 75 in his first event in six weeks.

Graham DeLaet would love to his first competitive round at Augusta back opening with an 8-over 80 and is tied for 90th. He had a bogey on the first hole then bogied six of his first seven holes including four in a row on holes four through seven.

He calmed down a bit on the back nine where he pared every hole except 10 and 14 where he added two more bogies

It wasn't all bad new though. Jimmy Walker, Kevin Stadler and Jonas Blixt three of the record 24 newcomers to the Masters were in the group at 70.

The group at 71 included young (20-year-old Jordan Spieth) and old (54-year-old Fred Couples), and a former No. 1 in Rory McIlroy.

“It was just on one of those days it was tough to get it close to the hole,” McIlroy said. “Anything under par today was a good score.”

Mike Weir, opened with a respectable 1-over 73




Live scoring click here
http://www.masters.com/en_US/scores/index.html



Bryan Angus
(files from BBC Reuters, europeantour.com AP )