By entering this week from the Masters 2025, a large part of the conversation surrounded the potential of a duel of all time at Augusta National between the two best players in the world, Scottie Scheffler and Rory Mcilroy. For a large part of Thursday, these two titans of the game seemed to be holding this promise – and then some.
Scheffler published a 68 without Bogey To match Corey Conners for the start of the clubhouse at 4 sous, and McILroy was linked with them well in his nine seconds before the catastrophe struck in the 15th by 5. Rory slipped into the water behind the green, leading to a double bogey. He followed this with another double bogey after a bad chip from the 17th Green led to a three strokes, and he fell 4 to display a disappointing 72. Ludvig Åberg, meanwhile, went in the same direction in the same group, joining Scheffler and bounds to 4 sous.
The only man who could go beyond this trio was Justin Rose. The Englishman will take an advance of three strokes in the second round of Friday during his 20th appearance at the Masters. Rose was sensational Thursday, moving it as deeply as 8 under 16 holes before putting one to 18, his only Bogey around.
Rose picked up her birdies in clusters with three consecutive to open her turn, then another trifecta on our 8-10s. One day when the nine seconds played more than au -peer shot, his 34 was sensational. He sailed on Amen Corner without imperfection, then added Birdies the 15 and 16th, which was not a little feat a more difficult day than usual the nine two to Augusta National.
With her 7-mine of 65, Rose made a little history of the masters. It was the fifth time that he kept his head or co-directing after 18 holes, breaking equality with Jack Nicklaus (!) For the most first round of the Masters. At 44, he is the oldest leader in the first round since a 50-year-old Fred Couples has had a single blow after 18 holes in 2010. (Couples resumed the chronometer on Thursday with a 1st from 71 to 65 years old, Including an eagle to hole on the 14th!)
Rose has approached the triumph of masters in the past, finishing second in 2015 and 2017, and now had his head eight times at the end of a tour, the most of all players without a green jacket.
2025 Masters Cavelboard Breakdown, Round 1
1. Justin Rose (-7): Rose’s challenge will now keep this about what should be a winding Friday in Augusta, Georgia, with some of the best players in the world in pursuit. He will have to understand how to put his feelings from Tee to Green for three more days, but he should have a lot of confidence in his game after a really incredible golf series on a course that played extremely difficult.
T2. Scottie Scheffler, Corey Conners, Ludvig Åberg (-4): It is not surprising to see Scheffler near the top of the ranking after the first round when he opened with a round of less than 70 years in the last four masters (a shy from the Nicklaus record). After finishing finalist of Scheffler a year ago, he should probably not be a surprise to see Åberg next to him either. The young Swedish regularly plotted his way Thursday with a single Bogey, making four birdies in his last seven holes to go bankrupt the ranking. Conners, meanwhile, has its own strong story to the masters with three top 10 in its name, and the extraordinary Canada ball ball presented one of its best laps to enter the mixture before Friday.
T5. Tyrrell Hatton, Bryson Dechambeau (-3): Dechambeau briefly increased to 4 under after a Birdie on the 16th, but brought it straight on the 17th. It was the second consecutive year that he set up an excellent opening tower, but he will seek to save a quality start this time after falling from the rhythm in 2024. He is joined by Hatton, who also had 4 under the start of the wave until a n ° 17; The English Mercurial At-Totes has gathered a regular opening of 18 holes.
T7. Aaron Rai, Harris English, Jason Day, Akshay Bhatia (-2): Early in the morning, Rai was the first to pass him 4 when he went around in 32, but he returned a little to earth on his nine seconds. Bhatia had the path opposed to 2 sous; He closed very well with five birdies in his last six holes to run what looked like a disaster in a top 10 in the top 10 on Friday.
T11. Cameron Smith, Patrick Reed, Min Woo Lee, Viktor Hovland, Shane Lowry, Fred Couples and 10 others (-1): There is a whole logjam at 1 sous, and it includes some big names and champions of masters. The T11 position of Thursday evening is historically important, because the last 18 champions of the masters were T11 or better after the first round.
Couples 71 were one of the highlights of the morningAnd its 14th eagle perhaps produced the strongest roar Thursday. Cameron Smith and Min Woo Lee each made 15 aftershocks in their rounds while the Australians made their way to a sub-egout to be in the mixture to go on Friday. Reed, the 2018 champion, has been solid at the Roc aux Masters since this victory, and he will also arrive on Friday. Hovland and Lowry also made their way without any disaster, which was not an easy task on Thursday, and will remain in the mixture by going on Friday. Not getting out of the tournament is always the No. 1 goal of Thursday, and everyone in this position will have the impression of having accomplished this.
T27. Collin Morikawa, Joaquín Niemann, Rory McILroy and eight others: At one time or another, the three of Morikawa, Niemann and McILroy had at least 3 sous and looked like real threats. However, everyone collapsed the nine seconds. Although they are probably not completely out of the peer tournament, they now have a lot of work to do on Friday when time is supposed to be the most extreme this week. We do not expect the bottom to be an easy feat, but each of these players will feel the need to enter red figures, at least, entering the weekend if they returned a green jacket.
T38. Jordan Spieth, Justin Thomas, Xander Schauffele, Hideki Matsuyama, Tommy Fleetwood and eight others (+1): There are two types of players in this group: those who were securely under peer at one point (Spieth, Matsuyama) but who had an implosion that took them out of the red figures and those which launched in raw departures and crushed to a 73 (Thomas, Schauffele, Fleetwood). The latter group will at least have the impression of taking a little momentum until Friday while they are trying to climb in red figures, while the first will be in a different head space, wondering how they let a promising circle escape.
T51. Max Homa, Will Zalatoris, Dustin Johnson, Brooks Koepka, Patrick Cantlay and 7 others (+2): Everyone in 2 will go to Friday knowing that they have work to do because they are barely outside the top 50 cutting line and links entering the second round. There are heavy strikers and major champions in this group, and although a victory is too much to ask, all seek to play at least in the weekend on Friday.
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