Thanks for reading and join us again for round two. While Rose made the headlines, one man definitely didn’t come up smelling of flowers. Remarkable. Here’s that story and also the first-round report.
And that’s just about day one of the 89th Masters in the books. Justin Rose stole the show, becoming the only man ever to lead The Masters five times thanks to a brilliant 65. He was previously tied on four FRLs with Jack Nicklaus. I noted earlier that every Masters winner since 2006 had finished day one no worse than 11th. That’s good news for the -1s which include Shane Lowry, Cam Smith, Brian Harman, Patrick Reed, Min Woo Lee, Viktor Hovland and Matt Fitzpatrick. However, 18 of the last 19 champions were within four of the lead after the first round so that would knock out the -1s as well as the -2s. If history plays out, the Masters winner will come from Justin Rose, Corey Conners, Scottie Scheffler, Ludvig Aberg, Tyrrell Hatton and Bryson DeChambeau. Three of that six are already Major winners. Rory McIlroy is seven back after his destructive finish. The last man to overcome a first-round deficit that large? Tiger Woods in 2005. It’s also bad news for 2023 winner Jon Rahm, who has just signed for a 3-over 75.
-7: Rose
-4: Conners, Scheffler, Aberg
-3: Hatton, DeChambeau
-2: Rai, English, Day, Bhatia
