What You Missed This Morning As The First Round Concluded At The Masters
Yesterday's afternoon wave hit the course bright and early to finish their first rounds this morning and there was plenty of action including a couple of new co-leaders joining Paul Casey at the top. I thought the course might have firmed up overnight, but that was certainly not the case. These guys continued to go out and score and there appears to be no sign of that stopping Let's hit it.
Dylan Frittelli
Jamie Squire. Getty Images.
Frittelli has seemingly come out of nowhere to fire an opening round 65. The South African basically went out there and did everything we thought Bryson Dechambeau was going to do yesterday. Apparently the world's 100th ranked player has been quietly doing some distance training of his own and has added 20 yards or so to his driver. Only difference is that the South African was actually striping it and hitting fairways. He's a complete unknown to the casual golf fan, and the die-hards may remember him from winning the John Deere last year. He also was sniffing the top of the leaderboard on Friday at the Open Championship last year at Royal Portrush before quietly fizzling out over the weekend. We'll see if he can continue to drive it and create birdie opportunities because if he can, there's no reason why he can't contend.
Dustin Johnson
Jamie Squire. Getty Images.
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Clearly DJ played a really clean round here. Bogey free, stress free, and took advantage of his opportunities when they presented themselves. He's the world #1 for a reason and he's played in 10 of these things at this point. He birdied 3 out of 4 coming in and will get back out there shortly going off the Second Nine where he just turned in a 32. He just spoke with Rinaldi about how he knows how this course is playing already having just played 7 holes and he's feeling confident. He just might slam his foot on the gas here. Scary stuff for the field.
Bernhard Langer
Rob Carr. Getty Images.63 years young and still tearing up Augusta National. Shot a 68, tying his career opening round best. What this guy does on the Champions Tour year in and year out is nothing short of ridiculous. Guy loves his fitness and it shows every April (and now November) when he's in the mix to make the cut. Hell he finished T-8 as recently as 2014. Guy knows his way around this place as a 2-time Green Jacket winner and he'll be a lot of fun to watch if he keeps this up and makes the weekend.
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The Others
Jamie Squire. Getty Images.
Justin Thomas was hitting the ball every bit as well as DJ, just didn't make as many putts and finished 1 off the lead with a 66. He also could get off to a hot start in Round 2 and start to control this golf tournament. The soft conditions are absolutely ideal for the way he hits his irons and he's been working the ball both ways. Sungjae Im also turned in a nice round despite rinsing a ball on 15. Justin Rose has also positioned himself well at -5 and has a history of strong results here at Augusta.
Rory McIlroy
Jamie Squire. Getty Images.
What a disaster for Rory this morning. He found himself on an adventure way left on 13
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Then he rinsed a ball on 16, and knew it immediately
And ultimately ended up with a 1st round 75. With the way the conditions are out here, that's absolutely brutal. This course is completely benign right now. Pretty much any mistake (save Adam Scott's brutal flagstick break on 15) right now is an unforced error. He's sitting way back at T-78 as I'm typing this so he's got an uphill climb to make a cut that may land around as low as -2.
Here is that wildly bad break by Adam Scott, not too unlike the one by Tiger back in 2013 that probably cost him a Green Jacket.
Here are your Round 2 Pin Positions. Bombs away.
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They won't be able to get the full 2nd round in today, so the afternoon guys today will leak into Saturday morning. Should still be a fun day.
Enjoy Day 2… at the Masters.