AUGUSTA — For a brief flash, it was 1987 all over again for Larry Mize. The 62-year-old, 33 years removed from the 140-foot playoff chip-in that won him the Masters, popped onto the hand-turned leaderboards here once again.
Three straight birdies over his first four holes put him up there. “I did happen to see that,” Mize said after his play was done. “Wow, that’s kind of cool. I’d like to be there more often. It’s always fun to see your name up on the leaderboard here. I’m sorry I couldn’t keep it. But it was nice to come back and finish really well on the back nine. I played really solid coming in and really felt good.”
Shooting 2-under par 70 Thursday, his lowest round here since 2009, his only under-par round in his last 30 rounds at this place, should feel really good.
Low scores abounded this day, so he was soon edged off the leaderboard. But the Columbus native and Georgia Tech man did at his advanced age put up six birdies and put himself in position to perhaps make the cut here again after missing it the last two years.
Bryson DeChambeau can make all the noise he wants off the tee. Mize will happily advocate for a healthy short game.
“I’ve been working really hard on my wedge game because I know I’ve got to hit wedges close to score,” he said, crediting four of his birdies to his short iron play.
And, he added, “I’ve been working hard on my putting because I haven’t been putting well. Got it going today and rolled it good. The greens are wonderful. If you hit good shots, you can make some putts. I think that was a lot of it right there.”
Playing conservative
Webb Simpson changed his approach at the Masters. The conservative golfer played, well, more conservative.
It paid off as Simpson finished the opening round at 5-under par.
“So we just started playing a little more conservative. I feel like I’m a pretty conservative golfer as it is, but I didn’t feel like I was giving some of these greens and approach shots enough credit for how severe the short side can be,” Simpson said. “So we just shifted a little bit of our focus to kind of being ultra safe and know that there’s four par 5s, I’m going to have birdie opportunities. And when I did that, I started shooting better scores, making more birdies.”
Simpson had an eagle (No. 2) and two birdies (Nos. 13 and 15) on the par 5s added on a lone other birdie (No. 1).
Round 1 delayed by weather
It didn’t take long for the expected inclement weather to affect the opening round of the Masters on Thursday.
Round 1 resumed after a two hour and 45 minutes delay. Play was suspended at 7:35 a.m. with nine golfers on the course and resumed at 10:20 a.m. The first tee times were scheduled for 7 a.m. but delayed until 7:10 a.m. All remaining tee times will be delayed exactly three hours.
With the delay, only 48 golfers had finished their round when it was suspended due to darkness at 5:30 p.m. There are 44 golfers who must finish their rounds. Play will resume at 7:30 a.m. Friday. If there are not further delays, the second round will begin at 9:35 a.m.
The weather forecast for the rest of the tournament is:
Friday: Patchy fog or drizzle prior to 8 a.m. Becoming mostly sunny and less humid. Low: 64 degrees, High: 79 degrees. Winds: NNW 5-10 mph.
Saturday: Mostly sunny and cooler. Low: 54, High: 70. Winds: NE shifting E 6-12 mph.
Sunday: Partly cloudy. Low: 55, High: 77. Winds: SW 7-14 mph.
Honorary staters
The 2020 Masters did get officially under way with the ceremonial tee shots from Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player and several groups were able to get started before the rain and expected thunderstorms began.
Nicklaus’ wife, Barbara, served as his caddy due to coronavirus limitations. The six-time Masters champion said it was a first.
“Normally I have one of the grandkids, and of course we couldn’t bring anybody except our spouses this time,” Nicklaus said. “Last night I said to her, I said, I think it would be kind of fun if you would put on a caddie uniform and do that, and she said, oh, I don’t want to do that. I said, yeah, you do, it’ll be fun. You’ll enjoy it. Everybody loves you, and it’ll be a treat for the people.”
Seen
Spotted on the course following the Tiger Woods group was NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell and former Colts and Broncos quarterback Peyton Manning.
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution will continue its full coverage of the Masters. Check back throughout the day for updates to this story and additional news, features and photos.
