AUGUSTA — One hole into this final Masters, and Sandy Lyle was down a club.
The former champion snapped a, 8-iron on his second shot when he hit a tree off the first fairway. After his tee shot went left into the trees, Lyle tried to hit back into the fairway left-handed. The second shot didn’t make it to the fairway, the ball hit a cameraman and his club snapped.
“And it wasn’t even over my knee,” Lyle joked after the round of the broken club.
Lyle, playing his 42nd Masters, ended up making just a bogey on the hole. He pitched back into the fairway, hit a wedge to 10 feet and made the putt.
“I got just about enough ball before I get the tree,” Lyle said. “I thought, if I can get the left-handed 8-iron to it, not full whack, but just a short, stubby bang. Timed it perfectly and obviously hit the bough. I hit a cameraman somewhere about 15 yards away, and dropped down still in trouble.
“Yeah, I mean, a helluva 5 really. Looked like it could be a 6, could be whatever. Making 5 there was quite a nice help.”
New tee times
Due to potential inclement weather on Friday, all starting times were moved up 30 minutes. The first starting time will be 7:30 a.m. Ticket gates will open at 7 a.m., as previously scheduled.
Na withdraws
Because of illness, Kevin Na withdrew from the Masters after completing nine holes of his first round. He was 4 over.
Na was paired with Mike Weir in the first tee time of day at 8 a.m. Weir had to play the rest of the first round alone. He finished his round four holes ahead of the group behind him.
“I can’t remember the last time played as a single,” Weir said after he shot an even round of 72. “I’m sure at some point in my career I probably did, but I am struggling to find my memory bank where it was. So that was a strange back nine.”
Zalatoris withdraws
Because of a back injury, Will Zalatoris withdrew from the Masters before starting his first round.
Oooh, that shirt
First-round co-leader Viktor Hovland doesn’t select his clothing. He just wears what he’s told.
So Hovland had neither an explanation nor an apology for the unique shirt he was sporting on Thursday. Splashed with red, green and white patterns, the shirt was a modern-art delight and a big hit on social media.
“I had nothing to do with it,” Hovland said. “I just wear what they tell me to wear. It’s definitely a little bit out there, but I think I’d rather take them than the pink pants I had last year. We’re making progress.”
Gambling pays off
Funded by gambling winnings and wearing matching shirts, a group of seven Australian friends made it to the Masters on a bucket-list trip.
“Amazing,” Matt Dowling said of the experience. “Magnificent. Just everything’s just done well, isn’t it?”
The seven men, who all turned 50 within the past 12 months, have been planning the trip for about 10 years, Dowling said. They are friends through a golf club in Queensland, the northeastern Australian state that claims three Masters entries – Jason Day, Adam Scott and Cameron Smith. They were able to procure badges for the week through connections with Smith and amateur Harrison Crowe. On Thursday, they wore matching red Queensland Maroons (a rugby team) shirts.
The group bankrolled the trip by making weekly bets on a variety of sports, banking half the winnings on successful wagers and using the rest on another bet. The account grew as large as $60,000 in Australian currency (about $40,000 U.S.).
It would seem they had done well to amass such a fund.
“It’s taken 10 years – some people would say we haven’t,” Dowling said. “But we’re here.”
Reversal of fortunes
Seamus Power may have used all his closing luck on Wednesday.
After finishing the Par 3 Contest with back-to-back aces, Power finished the first round of the Masters with back-to-back double bogeys. He went from 3 under to finish at 1-over 73.
“There’s no relevance to it at all,” Power said. “It was good fun (Wednesday) but it doesn’t relate at all. There’s so much luck to a hole-in-one. It’s a cool memory, but that’s about all.”
On Friday, Power got a bad lie in the bunker at No. 17 and his approach rolled off the right side of the green. On 18 his tee shot went left, forcing him to chip out backward, then had his approach shot stop in the fringe. He signed for a 1-over 73.
“It was a big of a struggle all day, but kind of caught up with me on those last two,” Power said. “Beside that it was some good stuff.”
Skinny Phil
Phil Mickelson is noticeably thinner this spring. He has shed 25 pounds and has now begun a weight-lifting program that will restore his muscle and help him regain the speed and strength that melted away with the pounds.
Mickelson said he “stopped eating food” to lose the weight and plays to “keep it going and continue down that path.” Mickelson, 52, said the weight loss was as much about remaining healthy as he grows older.
“I want to be fit and be able to enjoy life because this is a really fun chapter right now for Amy and I,” he said. “When you rely on your body to do your job, it’s a lot easier to be motivated to stay fit and get healthy.”
Major change to No. 13? Not really
Bottom-lining the much discussed changes to one famous par-5 hole that enjoys almost national landmark status:
Uhhhhhh.
In the first competitive crash test of Augusta National’s new No. 13, the differences were fractional. Buying out part of a neighboring country club in order to add 35 yards to the dogleg left hole resulted in only slightly different scoring.
Last year, the hole was the third easiest of the tournament, playing to a stroke average of 4.85. The stroke average the prior two tournaments: 4.62 and 4.61. Thursday it was 4.72, fourth easiest on the day. In other words, nothing dramatic.
The star threesome of Tiger Woods, Viktor Hovland and Xander Schauffele demonstrated the decisions forced on players by the new configuration presents. Little differences off the tee now play larger roles in what to do with that second shot. Woods and Schauffele both laid up after hitting drives right just off the fairway, and walked away with par. With a better drive down the left, cutting off part of the dogleg, Hovland went for the green in two and got his birdie.
“There are less options off the tee,” Woods said. “There’s no really 3-wood there. You just hit driver and maybe turn it just a touch. Or you can hit what Viktor did. You can cut it off that tee, and you have room. He hit some kind of 4- or 5-iron to the green.”
Fret not, the character of the hole did not seem fundamentally altered by the change.
-Staff writers Ken Sugiura, Stan Awtrey, Steve Hummer and Chris Vivlamore contributed to this article.
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