In search of his first major title, Lee Westwood made seven birdies & finished at 5-under-par 67 to grab the first-round lead at the Masters.
Westwood had a 1-shot lead over Louis Oosthuizen, who finished birdie-birdie to shoot 68 on Thursday April 5th.
"I've come close (to winning a major)," Westwood said. "I've won all there is to win other than a major champinship. That's my primary focus & it's been a long time coming around since the PGA last year."
Westwood made his move on the front nine when he ran off four consecutive birdies, all of them inside 10 feet, including a difficult pitch from short of the par-5 eighth green that settled within tap-in range.
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compared to everything that happened at the Masters, Lee Westwood's 5-under 67 was a total snoozefest, writes Gene Wojciechowski. Story
Lee Westwood said Tuesday the Masters wouldn't be a two-horse race. On Thursday April 5th, he backed it up, writes Farrell Evans. Story
Meanwhile, on a day when he was clearly off his recent form, Tiger Woods emerged from the first round fortunate to still be in touch with the leaders.
Saying he had a poor warm-up session prior to the year's first major championship, Woods bogeyed the last two holes at Augusta National Golf Club to shoot even-par 72.
Five times Woods missed fairways to the left with badly hooked shots off the tee, including the first, second & 18th holes.
"Today, I squeezed a lot out of that round," Woods said. "Didn't hit it very good at all. Warmed up bad, too, & it continued on the golf course. I just felt my way around today. I really grinded, stayed very present. & you know, I know how to play this golf course. I think it's just underst&ing what I need to do."
Woods headed to the driving range immediately after briefly discussing his round with reporters.
Scotl&'s Paul Lawrie, Spain's Angel Miguel Jimenez -- who played with Woods -- & Italy's Francesco Molinari shot 3-under-par 69s along with Ben Crane & Jason Dufner. Sweden's Henrik Stenson got to 6 under but made a record-tying 8 on the final hole to drop back.
"This golf course is playing too difficult to go super low on," Woods said. "What Henrik was doing early, that was pretty impressive. Some of these pins are really tough. No one was tearing it up."
The 14-time major champion, who has won the Masters four times, came to Augusta off his first official victory in more than two years. He won the Arnold Palmer Invitational on March 25 & figured to be a strong contender here, where he has not finished worse than sixth since his last victory in 2005.
& he still may be.
Significant rain preceding the tournament left Augusta National soft but playing long, & officials appeared to set up the course more difficult to combat it. While there are many scores under par, there are not a lot of low ones.
Rory McIlroy managed to shoot 1 under, opening with a double bogey, though his big moment was on the 10th hole. A year ago, that's where his Sunday collapse began with a hooked tee shot into the cabins for a triple bogey. This time, he pushed a 3-wood into the trees on the other side & managed a par.
"That was a bit of an improvement from the last time I played it," McIlroy said.
Better yet was a birdie-birdie finish, including a 15-foot putt from the fringe on the 18th that gave him a 71, making him one of 28 players who broke par & were within four shots of the lead.
The Masters Leaderboard
1. Westwood (-5)
T-2. Hanson (-4)
T-2. Oosthuizen (-4)
T-4. Crane (-3)
T-4. Dufner (-3)
T-4. Jimenez (-3)
T-4. Lawrie (-3)
T-4. Molinari (-3)
T-4. Watson (-3)
"It was huge," McIlroy said. "I didn't feel like I had my best out there. To finish under par for the day, I'm very pleased."
Phil Mickelson had his troubles as well; the three-time Masters champion was delighted with a 74. He sprayed tee shots all over the course, including one so far left on the 10th into bushes he didn't know existed that he never found his ball. Mickelson made a triple bogey there, then spent the rest of the back nine scrambling for his life.
He recounted all the bad shots, the missed opportunities, the triple bogey, & decided the glass was half full, almost spilling over.
"This is good news," Mickelson said. "Because if I can get hot tomorrow, I'm playing good enough to shoot 6 or 7 under, & I'll be right in it for the weekend. Fortunately, I didn't shoot myself out of it."
Though Woods fared better than Mickelson, he hit just six of 14 fairways & 12 of 18 greens & was 0 for 3 from the s&. But he needed just 29 putts.
Woods got off to a poor start, snap-hooking his drives on both the first & second holes, the tee shot on the second hole requiring him to take an unplayable lie. But Woods scrambled to make par at both holes, then finally found a fairway & green at the third & made his first birdie.
His only front-nine bogey came at the seventh when his ball collected mud & his second shot l&ed in a front bunker. Woods then followed with birdies at the eighth & 10th holes but was unable to make birdies at either of the back-nine par-5s.
Woods found the back bunker at the par-5 13th & then blasted long. He then hit a poor drive left at the 15th, meaning he had to lay up. A poor drive led to another bogey at the 17th when he failed to get up & down from a greenside bunker, & another bad drive at the 18th caused him to take another unplayable lie & a penalty stroke.
The poor warm-up was a surprise & Woods said it didn't provide a great frame of mind going to the first tee.
"Absolutely," he said. "I didn't warm up well. I hit a few loose ones, but I said just stay committed. Whatever happens, just stay committed on each & every shot. I did that. I really stayed committed to what I was doing.
"I made some bad swings. That's fine. My commitment to each & every shot, what I was doing, my alignment, my setup, everything was something that I'm excited about & I can take some positives going into tomorrow about that. Granted, it might be late tomorrow, but at least I have something to build on."
Woods was referencing his late tee time & that a poor weather forecast could cause problems on Friday.
For Luke Donald, however, a smudged fax printout was the root of his problems.
Donald was nearly disqualified when it was determined his first-round score was improperly entered in the tournament's scoring system because a fax machine produced a smudged number.
Donald, the No. 1-ranked player in the world, shot 75 in the opening round, but tournament scoreboards had him for a 73 because his score was improperly read after it had been faxed to those recording the scores.
Mike & Mike in the Morning
Had Donald really signed for a 73 when shooting a 75, he would have been disqualified. The error occurred at the par-4 fifth hole, where Donald three-putted for a bogey 5 & acknowledged as much after the round. But the score went down as a 3 in the scoring system because officials read it as a 3 -- not the 5 that Donald told them was written on the card.
While Donald sits at No. 1 in the world, Woods is looking to fully return to his post-sc&al form. Only once in 18 Masters has Woods broken 70 in the first round. That came two years ago, when he was returning after a five-month layoff, & shot 68. Woods has broken 70 during the first round of a major on 14 occasions, & seven times went on to win.
"He's been No. 1 before & now he's not there but his game is there," Jimenez said. "& he's only 36, & he's on top of the wave. It's his passion. He's a great player. It was always nice to play with him before & it's nice to play with him now.
"I think he's playing very, very well. The only thing is from the tee on this golf course, you are not in the right place from the tee, you have nothing to do here. & he's managed to make -- he finished level par, he finished bogey, bogey, & as I say, he's playing very well."
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