Day heads Australians after day one at Augusta National
Jason Day in action on day one – image courtesy of The Masters Tournament
The five Australians at this year’s Masters have experienced mixed results during round one at Augusta National Jason Day, Cam Smith and Min Woo Lee, making encouraging starts to be under par on a day where scoring apart from the effort of the leader Justin Rose appeared difficult.
Day is at 2 under par and in a share of the place, although five shots off Rose’s lead and despite an afternoon tee time on day two he is well enough placed to move into contention heading into the weekend.
“Today it was good,” said Day pleased with his effort. “I had a really good strategy out there. I think I didn’t get myself out of position too bad, and then when I did get myself out of position, I had a relatively easy up-and-down. Unfortunately, I just missed a few too many opportunities for birdies.
“But sitting at 2-under right now in fifth place (he finished in 7th place), I’m pretty happy with it.”
“The funny thing about Augusta is it’s very, very easy to psych yourself out, depending on how the course is. You know that the progression of play from day-to-day gradually usually gets harder.”
“I feel like I’m definitely coming in under the radar. I’m not to the point of how Scottie has been playing, how Rory has been playing, some of the other guys. I feel very just comfortable with where my game is at right now. I’ve just got to do some work on the greens. Hopefully some more putts drop.”
Min Woo Lee was out early and finished with a round of 71 to be sharing 11th place and after an opening bogey where he drove it in the trees, was long with his second and failed to save par when narrowly missing a ten-footer, he added two birdies.
“It’s a tough golf course today,” said Lee after his round. “It was a tough golf course. Yeah, very happy with 1-under. Obviously could have had a couple more, but again, tricky pins, and I played very solid. So that’s a plus.”
As Australia’s number one ranked male golfer, Lee is delighted to have achieved that mantle, but he knows there is a lot more to success than that.
“Yeah, no, one day I dreamt of that, so I’m here now. It is a very cool feeling. I still feel like a kid. I always say that, but I still feel like a kid and I look up to Jason and Scotty up there in the rankings.
“So yeah, it’s quite nice I guess to see that ranking, but we’re looking further than that.
“I mean, it’s good. It’s great. I’ve been trying to get to World No. 1. It’s still a quest. Just want to keep playing well and putting myself in contention.”
In this event last year Lee was restricted by a cold and recovering from a broken finger but was asked where he feels he is at compared to this time last year, especially given his recent PGA Tour event breakthrough.
“I had a lot of confidence, obviously, coming into this week, but then last year I had no expectations because I had a broken finger so I was kind of just go out there and play.
“I think I was like 4-over through 7 and I was like, yep, that’s pretty much a broken finger and a cold. But I managed to actually play really good after that and come 22nd.
“Yeah, I think in a way, very similar. I felt really good in different ways. But yeah, I was very cautious when I was in the gym last week.”
Cam Smith’s record at Augusta National is superb but he arrived off the back of an indifferent season to date so his start sets him up well for the next few days.
“It’s been a bit scrappy with the irons, said the former world number 2. “The driver felt all right. Just couldn’t quite see the shots out there and couldn’t quite commit.
“It was a really good scramble. I think I hit a couple of greens on the front nine and maybe three or four on the back. There was still plenty of good in there. The wedges felt great. The putter felt great. Even the driver felt great.
“Like I said, I was in some good spots and didn’t really make the most of it.
“I haven’t left myself too much work. For how I felt out there, it felt like it was going to be a bit of a long day. All in all, pretty pleased with the score. If I’m going to win this thing, I definitely need to do better than that. Golf is such a weird game.
“I feel like my last round last week at Doral was probably the best I’ve hit it in a long time, and coming out here today is probably the worst I’ve hit it in a long time.
“It’s just such a weird game sometimes. I felt really good at the start of the week, just a little bit of cleanup on the range, and we’ll be good.”
Cam Davis (74) and Adam Scott (77) have work to do if they are to be around for the weekend, the cut appearing at this stage as if it will be around 4 over or perhaps even 5 if the expected stronger winds arrive on day two.
Justin Rose is the talk of day one, however. The 44-year-old former US Open champion and twice a runner-up in this particular event took control of day one with six birdies in his first 10 holes and added two more before a bogey at the last after driving it into the trees. He leads by three over Corey Connors, Scottie Scheffler and Ludvig Aberg.
For a record fifth time, Rose holds at least a share of the first-round lead at the Masters, having done that in 2004, 2007, 2008 and 2021. He previously shared the record with Jack Nicklaus.
“Yeah, obviously delighted to get off to such a great start, and that start definitely, it happened out of the gates. So for the first few holes everything was going exactly where I was looking.
And certainly the first hole, which is definitely one of the trickier holes on the golf course, to knock in a nice 25-footer down the hill right-to-left, exactly what you need to settle yourself into the Masters, and then 2 and 3 are birdie opportunities.
“So to be 3-under through 3 kind of really got me on the front foot and felt like I was playing great golf. When I did find myself into in a little bit of trouble, especially early, No. 5, holed a great putt for par. And middle of the back nine I felt like there were a couple moments where the momentum could have changed. But really good up-and-downs on 14 and 15 to keep the round really hot.
“Obviously the only blemish on 18, but there’s no point dwelling on that. “It was a really good day’s golf on a golf course that was a stern test. I think if you look at the overall leaderboard, not many low scores out there. You had to hit a lot of quality shots, and delighted the way I played.”
