2019 Masters leaderboard https://www.masters.com/en_US/scores/index.html
Why would I say that the world's greatest golfers like Rory McIlroy (73), Justin Rose (75), Jordan Spieth (75), Henrik Stenson (74), Justin Thomas (73), Sergio Garcia (73) etal, are virtually out of any chance of winning this years Masters after just one round.
Well apart from the record book which shows that in the last 15 years, apart from Tiger Woods 2005 (74,66,65,71 -12 playoff) and Phil Mickelson 2004 (72,69,69,69 -9) who shot over par or par, opening rounds then came all the way back to win, it is very rare.
Consider these 3 factors.
* Augusta is a very severe test of golf, especially when the pins are tucked, and the greens firmed up as they will be.
* weather : these great players above par need the wind to blow hard over this weekend. It won't. Hot, humid, thundery weather with showers is good scoring weather for everybody. The wind 15mph today at most isn't enough to separate the field from the elite.
* number of players to overcome : looking at Rory for example at +1 73 you can count 56 players at the same score or better who he has to overcome to win and six of them are in the world top 10. Even if he shoots -5 67 -4 total today, where will the lead be, -11 or more ?... and how many will still be ahead of him.
So especially with the benign weather, you can see what a monumental task lies ahead for these guys should they have any chance come Sunday afternoon.
I hope one of them does, what a story that would be!
Incidently, Tiger has opened with -2 70 and that was with a handful of short missed putts.
Bryan Angus
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