Three of golf’s four reigning majors champions received their comeuppance during the first round of the Masters on Thursday.
The wreckage was easy to spot at the end of a beautiful day:
Jason Dufner, last year’s PGA Championship winner, shot a weekend-hacker 9 on the par-5 No. 15 to finish with an 8-over 80.
Phil Mickelson, last year’s British Open winner and a sentimental favorite to win his fourth green jacket, looked like a rookie with a triple bogey and double bogey. He finished 4-over 76, a troubling sign considering no Masters champ has ever shot more than a 75 in their opening round. If that wasn’t enough, no Masters champ has had a triple bogey in the year he won. Only two runner-ups have made triple, Jack Burke Jr. in 1952 and Jose Maria Olazabal in 1991.
“It wasn’t the best day for me,” Mickelson. “I’ve got lot of work tomorrow just to make the cut. I’ve got some issues.”
Justin Rose, last year’s U.S. Open winner, couldn’t get out of his own way, also shooting a 4-over 76.
Only Adam Scott, the reigning Masters champ, got anything done. He shot a 3-under 69 and is one shot behind leader Bill Haas heading into Friday’s second round.
“Very pleased to get off to a good start, and there’s no doubt winning the Masters last year had me a little more comfortable on the first tee than I’ve ever been in the past,” Scott said. “I didn’t have the legs shaking and nerves jangling for six or seven holes like usual, so that was enjoyable for me today. But I’m very pleased with my opening round.”
The problems were sudden and unforgiving.
Dufner was 3 over and setting up his fourth shot from the back of the 15th green when he made a series of odd decisions. Instead of putting, Dufner elected to chip the ball back down the green. His shot rolled across the green and into the tributary of Rae’s Creek that runs in front of the green.
Instead of taking a drop, Dufner tried to hit the ball out of the water. The ball flew out of the water and landed on the edge of the green, where it promptly rolled back into the creek. Dufner finally decided to go to the drop area, but the damage was done.
Mickelson had his own brain cramp, but the resulting number wasn’t as catastrophic.
His approach on No. 7 rolled off the back edge of the green. Instead of putting it, which he could have done, he elected to take a wedge and try to chip it toward the flag, located in the left-center of the green. He said he misjudged the softness of the greens, and the shot didn’t stop until coming to rest in the fringe on the opposite side of the green.
Now needing to chip, Mickelson said he again misjudged the softness of the green, putting the ball six feet above the hole and leaving a tricky downhill putt to save bogey. The first putt rolled four feet past the hole, and he missed the come-back putt to post a seven. He had never posted a score higher than five on the hole in 82 previous rounds.
He responded with a birdie on 10 and another birdie on 13, but followed with a bogey on 14 and a double bogey on 15.
“I actually played well; I know it’s hard to say,” Mickelson said. “I just made a lot of little mental errors around the greens.”
Scott came close to calamity after knocking his tee shot into the water on No. 12, but was able to minimize the damage with a double bogey.
Scott summed up that shot and perhaps the thoughts of the other three after their numerous mistakes throughout the day: “I just lost a little focus on that shot and didn’t commit fully to it, and you paid a price on that one.”
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