On a day when no one could get much going, Charley Hoffman couldn’t stop.
Hoping match par under Thursday’s blustery conditions, Hoffman instead bulldozed the Masters field with a brilliant 31 on the back side en route to a 7-under 65. His four-shot lead over William McGirt matches the largest first-round lead in this championship over the past 75 years.
“For a lack of any better words, it was a dream,” he said. “I mean, you hit the shots that you’re sort of looking at and then the hardest part is to convert the putts. And I was able to do that.”
His round started without note. He scored as many birdies as bogeys — two — through the first seven holes which left three behind the leaders who were a couple hours ahead. Then he shot up the board as if from a cannon, birdieing eight of his next 10 holes. After stringing together the last four straight on No. 14-17, his was far and away the most efficient game while only 10 other players could break par.
“I’m a very visual person. Visually, (Augusta National) fits my eye,” he said. “The greens, I don’t know why it is, I like to see putts that break. Just feels good when I’m on the greens and on the tees and hitting shots into the greens.”
Hoffman has played some solid golf at time during his three Masters runs. Seven of his 12 competition rounds have been at par of better, he made the cut all three years and even shot an opening 67 two years ago, when he was in second place on Saturday. He wound up tied for ninth.
“I’m going to feed off that the rest of the week,” he said. “Today, you just sort of go with it. There wasn’t, I wouldn’t say, a ton of pressure today. You’re just trying to make ends meet.”
He has quietly pieced together a strong spring. Hoffman tied for fourth at the Genesis Los Angeles Open and was runner-up at the Arnold Palmer Invitational three weeks ago. But his resume in the majors is pretty thin. Take away the Masters and his best showing in one of the big four came in 2007, when he tied for 37th in the British Open.
“Obviously, going to sleep on the lead here at Augusta National is not going to be the easiest thing,” he said. “I look forward to it and I look forward to the challenge the next three days.”
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