Augusta Masters: Unheralded Hoffman takes lead

Augusta (Georgia): There was no single story line, but a whole lot of them interwoven into an opening day that had emotion, drama, tragedy, ghosts exorcised and some re-visited.

In the end, there was a leader, Charley Hoffman, who would not have given himself a four-shot lead before the first round to mark the action-packed opening day of the 81st Masters here on Thursday.

The 40-year-old generally acknowledged as a ‘good player in windy conditions’, rolled in a seven-under 65 for a four-shot lead, the second-largest first-round lead in Masters history, birdieing five of his final seven holes.

Hoffman was walking on air, as he said, “For lack of any better words, it was a dream,” he said. “Obviously I was just trying to make pars, and while I was trying to make pars, I put myself in position to be able to make birdies. And I was able to convert those birdies and turn it into a fantastic round.”

The highest fist round lead is five by Craig Wood in 1941, and the only other four-shot lead was by Jack Burke Jr. in 1955. Both went on to win the Masters in those years.

World no. 53 William McGirt of the USA was second with 69 and England’s Lee Westwood third at 70.

World no. 1 Dustin Johnson, who hurt his back in a freak fall a day earlier, did make it to the tee, but then winced and walked back to the clubhouse. Looking devastated by the turn of events in the past 24 hours, he said, “It sucks. I want to play.

“I’m playing probably the best golf of my career, and this is one of my favorite tournaments of the year. I look forward to it every year. To have a freak accident happen yesterday afternoon, it sucks.”

In between and a after that, there was a lot of individual stories as Ernie Els, who said that this might be his last Masters, exorcised the ghosts of 2016, when he six-putted the first hole. He went on to shoot a 72 for tied 12th and declared. “Yeah, yeah I did feel like I exorcised a ghost, but then I bogeyed no. 2.”

His round included four birdies in five holes between 13th and 17th and recovered from being three-over after seven.

Jordan Spieth, a favourite whenever he tees up here, re-visited the ghosts of 2016. He now has the dubious distinction of racking up a quadruple bogey in consecutive rounds. He had a quad on the 12th in the final round last year and that cost him his second Green Jacket. This time his “15-is-a-birdie-hole mentality” cost him heavy.