Australia’s Jason Day made a scorching begin to The Masters, sitting two photographs off the lead following his opening spherical, whereas Rory McIlroy and Bryson DeChambeau’s fortunes went in reverse instructions.
Day fired a three-under par spherical of 69 to sit down within the clubhouse alongside Patrick Reed and Kurt Kitayama because the closest rivals to leaders McIlroy and Sam Burns.
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Day charged up the leaderboard with three again 9 birdies, together with consecutive birdies at 12 and 13.
The previous runner-up breezed by means of the usually daunting Amen Nook earlier than producing a miraculous escape act with an eight-iron from the bushes to avoid wasting par on 14.
“I had 153 yards to the pin. Wind was in out of the left. We had about three to 4 yards of spin with one other seven-ish yards of harm. So we’re simply making an attempt to hit an enormous excessive reduce,” Day instructed reporters at Augusta Nationwide.
“Typically in these situations it’s popping out of first reduce, in the event you contact improper with it, it might probably fly straight by means of and also you don’t get the reduce. Simply comes out like a flyer, so it was essential to slice throughout it.”
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Day lauded his “actually good” brief sport pre-tournament, and it got here up clutch on 17 and 18 as he drained essential par putts to shut out his spherical.
“Undoubtedly feels good while you gap these putts,” he mentioned.
“Clearly capturing three below is all the time higher than capturing two below or one below.
“So I must go to the vary and work on some stuff. Want to verify I’m staying on prime of my pace as a result of I really feel just like the greens are solely going to agency out and get quicker.”
In the meantime, a bunch of the pre-tournament favourites made important first spherical strikes.
Defending champion McIlroy’s opening 67 ignited with back-to-back birdies to shut out the entrance 9.
The profession grand slam winner then surged once more with three straight birdies at 13, 14 and 15 to hitch Burns in a share of the lead at 5-under.
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“It’s a fantastic begin. There’s an extended option to go. I’m proper within the match and it’s so much higher than ranging from seven behind going into the second spherical like I used to be final 12 months,” McIlroy instructed Sky Sports activities.
“Nice begin, however can’t get forward of myself. There’s an extended option to go, however feeling good with the place I’m at.”
World No.1 Scottie Scheffler kick began his push for a 3rd inexperienced jacket with an eagle on the par 5 second.
DeChambeau, in the meantime, has left himself in a battle to make the reduce.
The LIV Golf famous person ruined his spherical by taking three photographs out of the greenside bunker on 11 on his option to a triple bogey seven – no participant has ever gained a inexperienced jacket after making a triple bogey.
DeChambeau finally signed off on a four-over par 76.
Among the many remainder of the Australians, Cameron Smith opened his match with a 74.
The 2022 Open champion bogeyed his last two holes, however careworn to reporters: “I’m undoubtedly not out of the match”.
Whereas Adam Scott and Min Woo Lee have work to do on the again 9, reaching the flip at two-over and three-over respectively.
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