AUGUSTA - When Tiger Woods made his rain-delayed appearance at the launch point for his 2020 Masters Thursday, perhaps 75 spectators awaited. As he drove a 3-wood into the heart of the 10th fairway there was but a smattering of applause. If indeed such light clapping even qualified as a smatter.
It was the sound of Paul McCartney playing an open mic night in Hahira.
Tiger Woods can get bigger crowds than this to watch him floss. But nobody other than a few family, friends, club members and media could catch this show because of coronavirus precautions. Surreal is not an adequate adjective to color such a strange picture as this Masters.
Welcome to the Masters green new deal, where players are required to be fully self-sustaining, generating all their own electricity in the absence of fans.
Oh, brother, did they respond, with birdies sparking and arcing all over Augusta National Thursday. It may have been an incomplete first round, rain at the front end delaying play for almost three hours and the short daylight of this time of year pressing in on the back end.
But it lacked for nothing.
How about 12 rounds in the 60s and 27 sub-par rounds among the 48 players who completed their first round? And there were plenty more red numbers out on the course when play was suspended due to darkness.
“I got off to a fast start today, which is good. But I think everyone is. Everyone is going low out there today,” Woods said after posting a 4-under 68, and his first bogey-free round in his last 106 rounds in a major. For the defending champ, who has been notoriously slow to get up to speed around here, this was only his second sub-70 first round in 23 Masters appearances.
“If you’re on, you’re going to light the place up,” 2018 Masters champion Patrick Reed said. Like Woods, his wattage was measured in a 68.
They will still be in the role of pursuers whenever the first round is completed Friday and they turn the page to Round Two. In an ode to more the more traditional Masters timing, April showers visited November, at one point turning Rae’s Creek into the Ocoee River whitewater run. They also softened up the place and put it in the mood to show a vulnerable side.
And for those who didn’t need to draw upon the usual pastel corridors of loud supporters here for inspiration, they could make some real noise of their own.
Like the Englishman Paul Casey, atop the partially whole leaderboard after finishing with a 65, two shots better than anyone else with a complete card Thursday.
Casey admits he has been struggling with the lack of human contact on the course. “I’ve had nothing or very little to draw from being out playing tournament golf,” he said.
But here he is at his 14th Masters, where his best previous finish was a T-4 in 2016, reinvigorated. A bogey-free round that included one of 10 eagles recorded on this shortened day (on the par-5 second hole) will do that.
“The Masters, this week it still has a buzz to it,” Casey said. “There’s an energy and a little bit of a vibe. Yes, it’s clearly a lot less than what we are used to, but there’s something about this place. I felt excited to be here.”
Just ask Woods about that. He was little more than a non-competing marker for much of the year before getting here and receiving an immediate kick in pants. In the six tournaments since golf resumed from a coronavirus break, he had not finished inside the top 35. He had missed the cut at the last major, the U.S. Open. But once on this property, he is magically made into Tiger Woods again.
And should Casey require any further emotional goosing, all he need do is glance at the scoreboard. There, within three shots of his lead – some of their rounds incomplete – are six winners of majors and eight of the top 19-ranked players in the world.
Perhaps the names of Webb Simpson (67), Justin Thomas (5 under through 10 holes), Reed, Adam Scott (4 under through 10 holes) and Woods ring somewhat familiar.
Notably absent from that first tier of the leaderboard is the fellow who would deconstruct Augusta National – big, bad Bryson DeChambeau. Sure, the course was playing nice Thursday. Still, it had something special planned for this hoss.
Beginning his round on the back nine, the first par 5 DeChambeau would encounter was the classic No. 13. Remember that this is the player who suggested he was playing Augusta National as a par 67, given that he could easily hit the par 5s in two and drive the par 3 No. 3. He made his big plans. And No. 13 laughed.
After a drive wide right into the pinestraw, a second shot into the azaleas, a provisional second shot that found the creek and a flubbed chip on the ball he rescued from the shrubbery, DeChambeau had himself a robust double bogey.
He did birdie the other three par 5s, but was short of driving the third hole and settled for par there.
On the Augusta National scorecard he finished the day at a 2 under 70. By his own accounting, he’d be 3 over now.
He’ll no doubt sign for the former. Then, like the rest, plug into the essence of the Masters Friday and recharge for another round.
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