AUGUSTA, Ga. – Only once in his 16 previous starts in the Masters has Tiger Woods managed to break 70. That happened last year when he opened with a 68, eventually finishing tied for fourth.
In the four years in which he won the Masters, Woods has shot 70 three times and 74 the other time.
Woods
So shooting a 1-under 71 in Thursday’s first round left Woods feeling fairly pleased with his position, even with Rory McIlroy posting a 7-under 65 earlier in the day.
“I’m right there in the ballgame,” Woods said. “I’m only six back.”
Woods was a bogey-free 1 under at the turn, but he dropped consecutive strokes to par at Nos. 10 (when he three-putted) and 11.
He quickly bounced back, though, making a nice par-saving putt at No. 12 to get up-and-down, then two-putting for birdie at the par-5 13th (his only birdie on a par-5 hole all day) and followed with another birdie at the par-4 14th.
“It was nice to make that putt at 12 and get something going,” he said.
Woods needed 30 putts to complete his round, but he was happy with the way he was rolling the ball.
“I hit a lot of beautiful putts,” he said. “They were just skirting the edge. Hopefully, they’ll start to go in.”
They’ll need to if he wants to make the kind of move he’s made before at Augusta National. In his four wins, he’s produced second-round scores of 66, 66, 69 and 66.
He’ll also need to hope that McIlroy cools off.
“I’d rather be where Rory’s at,” Woods said. “But there’s a long way to go. We’ve got a long grind ahead of us.” – Mike McAllister
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McIlroy in familiar position
Rory McIlroy shot a 7-under 65 Thursday at Augusta National.
By Brian Wacker, PGATOUR.COM Site Producer
AUGUSTA, Ga. — It wasn’t quite the opening round at St. Andrews nine months ago, but Rory McIlroy’s 65 on Thursday was good enough to give him the lead at the Masters.
Now he hopes he doesn’t do what he did the next day of that British Open.
McIlroy shot 80 in the second round there to fall out of contention before rallying to finish third.
“Obviously at the time I was very disappointed to come off the course and shoot 80 after shooting 63. But looking back on it, it was a very valuable lesson in my development as a golfer,” McIlroy said Thursday. “I’ll be thinking about it and I’ll be thinking about how I can do things better Friday than I did that day in St. Andrews.”
It would have been hard for McIlroy to do anything much better on Thursday when he had seven birdies and no bogeys. He appeared headed for an eighth birdie but missed his birdie putt on the 18th. McIlroy also had similar opportunities on Nos. 8 and 10, but he wasn’t exactly disappointed with his day.
“I would take 65 all day long,” McIlroy said. “Could have been lower, but I also could have got a bad break here or there and I might not have been able to get to the green on 13 from the pine straw or something.”
With all the preparation McIlroy put into this year’s Masters, however, it’s easy to see why he didn’t have any bad breaks. He got here a week ago and played 27 holes last Friday.
Prior to that, McIlroy spent 10 days in West Palm Beach, Fla., where he worked with his coach, Michael Bannon, and played with Dustin Johnson, Camilo Villegas and others.
“I wanted to take three weeks off because I wanted to be prepared and fresh and ready to go for this week,” said McIlroy, who is playing in just his ninth career major. “Some people like to get into a run of events and play well, but I feel like the first week back out for me is my best week.”
It certainly showed on Thursday.
McIlroy is comfortable turning the ball right to left, which is a shot you need at Augusta National, and he says he’s learned where to miss in this his third Masters.
He’s also learned from his experiences at St. Andrews and Whistling Straits.
“It’s possible that I can go out and shoot another 65, but I know that it’s also very likely that I’m not going to do that,” McIlroy said. “So if I do find myself in a bit of trouble, I’m going to have to stick in there, grind it out, and that’s something that I feel as if I learned to do at St. Andrews. Even though I didn’t do it on that Friday, I feel like shooting a score like that, you should really never make that mistake again.”
As close to Masters green …
By Melanie Hauser, PGATOUR.COM Correspondent
AUGUSTA, GA. — The answer to your question is yes.
Rickie Fowler was wearing Masters green. Well, Puma’s version of Masters green.
“That’s what we’re trying to do,” he said. “This is the