2016 MASTERS: A Day of lost opportunities

BY STEVE KEIPERT AT AUGUSTA NATIONAL

THE five Australians in this year’s Masters field were left to rue slow starts or missed opportunities at the end of the first day’s play.

Chief among them was Jason Day, who ripped through the front nine in 31 strokes and was still five-under and a stroke off the lead with four holes to play but lost all five shots to fall to even-par and snap an eight-round run of subpar rounds at majors.

Adam Scott made too many bogeys in a 76 that left him trailing by ten, Marc Leishman carded a semi-respectable 74 marred by a bogey at the par-5 15th and Cameron Smith matched that score in a commendable debut. An ailing Steven Bowditch (he’s endured root canal work recently and a nagging wrist injury) started bogey, double-bogey in shooting 79.

Adam Scott’s travails epitomised the day the five Australians experienced at the Masters.
PHOTO: Andrew Redington/Getty Images

Yet the player who lost the most was Day, who came to Augusta with high hopes and feeling high pressure as the most recent major winner and golf’s World No.1. He eagled the par-5 2nd with a pure 3-iron to 11 feet and reached five-under at the turn. He was still five-under and just a shot behind standing in the 15th fairway when a pushed wedge shot led to a three-putt bogey. Worse came at the next where Day dunked his tee shot in the pond, shoved another wedge and three-putted again, this time for a triple-bogey six. He bogeyed the 17th to turn a potential 66 or 67 into a 72 that has him tied for 21st.

The adage tells us that the Masters doesn’t begin until the back nine on Sunday, but all recent winners have finished the first round inside the top-ten, leaving the Aussies with a lot of work to do to leaving town draped in green.

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“I played great up until 15 green … [then I started getting] out of position,” Day said, before insisting all is not lost.

“Obviously it’s just a number. I’ve got to understand that the next two days are going to be very difficult with the wind conditions. And six‑under is leading and I’m at even-par. I’ve just got to slowly try to inch my way back into this tournament if I can, and be patient with myself and hopefully I'm there by Sunday. But it’s a major championship. Things happen. And unfortunately it happened at the wrong time today. It is what it is, and I’ve got to move on and push forward and try to get back in the tournament.

“If I went 41 on the front side and 31 on the back side, I’d be celebrating.”

World No.1 and golf’s most recent major champion Jason Day squandered a potentially low round. PHOTO: Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images

Scott said he sensed difficulties from the start, especially with his iron play.

“Right from the first hole I didn’t quite come out on my line. On the back foot from the get-go,” the 2013 Masters champion said. “That’s nothing unusual coming here, but it was tough. I just didn’t really hit it solid enough into the greens and I left myself grinding for par even when I was putting for birdie.

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“And it’s easy to misjudge a couple with the wind. And all of a sudden you really limit your birdie chances. Even the par‑5s, I feel it’s a par or more … If I came in two‑over, you kind of limit the damage tomorrow. But I’ve got a tough day tomorrow. I’m going to try to get it back to even-par and then have a great weekend.”

Scott explained how the windy conditions demanded a heightened level of attention.

“It played difficult. You have to be paying attention … But that's the challenge of this place, you’ve got to really be on point. And I didn’t think I played that poorly today, but I wasn’t really sharp. I just never really created any opportunities. The guys that are playing really well, they can still create [them] because you hit it in the slope and you can work it, even though the wind is up.

Cameron Smith's game from tee-to-green was very good, but he will need to start making some putts. PHOTO: Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images

“I’m super patient. It’s a long week. I was trying hard to try to find a couple [of birdies] coming in, but it just wasn’t there for me. Now I need to find a couple on each side tomorrow and I’ll be in good shape, I think, because I find it hard to believe that if it’s windy like this the first three days that the leader will shoot three top rounds. If he does, then fair play. But at some point it’s going to catch up with everyone. It will even out over 54 or 72 holes.”

Scott is right, as for the Australians, all the bad breaks need to be out of the way today with the good breaks taking ownership of their chances tomorrow.