McIlroy has another reason to celebrate with his best Masters start
Rory McIlroy began his title defense in the Masters with a tee shot that rolled next to a spectator’s seat. Another one was in the trees. His tee shot on the seventh hole went into the 17th fairway.
The prevailing thought was not concern, not the slightest bit of panic.
He’s the Masters champion. That brought a measure of patience and a load of freedom. “I just trusted that eventually I’ll start to make some good swings.
So that was a little different,” McIlroy said after opening with a 5-under 67, his best start at Augusta National in 15 years, to share the lead with Sam Burns. It seems as though McIlroy has been wearing his Masters green jacket all week — to the weekend activities, to his news conference on Tuesday (Tiger Woods never did that), to the Masters Club dinner that night.
And after his opening round?
“It’s easier for me to make those swings and not worry about where it goes when I know that I can go to the Champions Locker Room and put my green jacket on at the end of the day,” he said.
It wasn’t his best golf, but he got everything out of his round in his bid to become only the fourth player to win back-to-back at Augusta National.
“By the way, Rory may never lose this thing again after last year,” Fred Couples said he told his caddie when he heard another cheer, presumably for McIlroy. Only one other player in the last 10 years — Hideki Matsuyama when he won in 2021 — shot 67 while hitting only five fairways.
McIlroy was the sixth defending champion to have at least a share of the 18-hole lead, though only Jack Nicklaus (1966) went on to win.
There’s a long way to go, and a course that already has everyone’s attention because of how fast and firm it already was on Thursday.
Burns was among the early starters. He played the par 5s with three birdies and an eagle and wound up with his lowest score in his fifth Masters appearance.
“Historically, people who have success here play the par 5s really well, and we were able to do that today. So it’s a good recipe around this golf course,” Burns said.
Scottie Scheffler, the No. 1 player in the world going for a third green jacket in the last five years, was 3 under through three holes in the tougher afternoon, when the light gusts began playing tricks and the greens got crispy. He had one bogey and 14 pars the rest of the way for a 70.
The whole day was tough, and the forecast — this could be the first Masters in 25 years without any rain — has everyone on edge thinking what the next three days could hold. Yes, the weather was gorgeous. But dry and firm conditions are scary, even in this marvelous garden.
“It’s not right on the edge, but it’s playing nice and firm where you can get yourself in a lot of trouble if you lose control somewhere,” Adam Scott said after a 72.
Patrick Reed, the 2018 Masters champion and a two-time winner on the European tour this year, was at 69 along with Jason Day and Kurt Kitayama.
Reed was atop the leaderboard for so much of the day due to two eagles on the front nine that sent him out in 31.
But he dropped a shot on the 10th, and then was flummoxed by what he thought was an ideal shot for his second into the par-5 15th.
Such are the firmness of the greens that his shot hit hard off the back of the green, bounded down the slope and didn’t stop rolling until it was in the pond on No. 16.
