- Video
-
Club Roar
Captured a great grassroots sporting moment? We want to see it!Content Collections
The Roar Community
- Join
- Login
It was too early to write off the Australians’ chances of winning the Masters after a disappointing opening round today, but the odds certainly lengthened.
The three Australians rated as genuine threats matched each other for mediocrity, with Geoff Ogilvy, Adam Scott and Aaron Baddeley all shooting three-over-par 75 at Augusta National.
They trailed leaders Justin Rose and Trevor Immelman by seven strokes but, perhaps more significantly, fell three shots behind a certain Californian who has shown a handy knack for winning major titles.
You give Tiger Woods a headstart at your peril.
Ogilvy, who came into the tournament in hot form after finishing first and second in his previous two starts, didn’t do a lot wrong, but nor did he do anything great, making 16 pars, a bogey and a double bogey.
He had steam coming from his ears as he exited the scoring hut, but gritted his teeth and answered a few questions from the small press contingent waiting outside.
“I didn’t hit it close enough and you’re not going to make long putts,” lamented the 2006 US Open champion who, with good reason, was not ready to throw in the towel.
“It’s a four round tournament, not a one round tournament. It’s not the end of the world; it just makes it harder.
“I played fine. I just had three-over. What do you say? I wish I’d had less, but I didn’t.”
Scott, meanwhile, bogeyed the first two holes and by day’s end took some consolation from not completely blowing himself out of the tournament.
“It took a few holes for my nerves to settle down,” admitted Scott.
“I hadn’t felt like that all year and all of a sudden I get to the first major and it takes a few extra holes.”
Baddeley, playing in the final threesome, finished in darkness at 8.15pm local time, the result of a one-hour morning fog delay.
The rush to finish perhaps cost him a couple of strokes, because he bogeyed the final two holes, which would be quite a price to pay for an extra hour’s sleep the next day.
Surprisingly, Peter Lonard was best of the Australians, three strokes from the lead.
He has a very consistent Masters record, four missed cuts from four starts, but it seems the Sydneysider finally is getting to know the place.
“I think I’ve done the homework,” Lonard said after a 71, his best Masters score by three strokes.
“Whether I’ve got the ability to do anything with it, who knows, but I think I’m far more prepared than I’ve ever been.
“I don’t think I fully understood the importance of missing in the right spot (before but) the more you play here, the more you realise it doesn’t matter how good a chipper you are, you’re not going to get it up and down unless you hit a freak shot.
“And you can hit a lot of greens and make a lot of three-putts if you hit it in the wrong spots. The four years I’ve been here before I had absolutely no idea where to miss them. I’ve had a couple of years to think about it, and so far, so good.”
Robert Allenby, who also has a miserable Masters record, made a promising start too, overcoming two double bogeys on the front nine to cruise home in 34 strokes on the inward nine.
“I hit a lot of great iron shots but I putted well too, and that’s one thing I haven’t done well in the past,” said Allenby.
Allenby said he was battling injury, although he has had so many problems with his arms, wrists and hands in recent years that it’s hard to keep track of them all.
“I’ve been battling tendonitis in my right elbow and it’s been killing me, and my right hip went out last week and I felt it on the front nine,” he said.
Of the other Australians, Nick O’Hern shot 74, Stuart Appleby took a triple bogey on the sixth in his 76 playing beside Woods, Richard Green 77 and John Senden 80.
Woods, despite his quiet start, remained the man to beat.
He did not have a birdie, although he eagled the par-five 15th, chipping in from 10 metres to make up for bogeys at the preceding two holes.
“I didn’t really get anything going my way today,” he said.
“I played a lot better than my score indicates.”
The rest of the field hoped it would stay that way.