An exciting 1 tour of Augusta National has seen many biggest stars of the game show up in ideal positions before Friday.
Here are the highest numbers and notes of the first day of the 89th Masters.
1 and 1 For a record a fifth time, Justin Rose has a share of the head after the first round of the Masters. Today aged 44, Rose is the oldest player to lead after Tour 1 since Fred Couples held a share at 50 in 2015. Rose picked up much more than five shots on the Greens, leading the ground in blows obtained by a large margin.
Rose had an underestimated sum of major championship sorrow since he won the US Open in Merion a dozen years ago. The Englishman has accumulated first 14 top-10 in majors since the beginning of 2014, most of any player without victory during this period. Push this statistical in front a year, and you are part of the explanation behind rose pain which is not as publicly deplored: Rory McILroy has 21 since his replacement the PGA 2014.
This is the ninth time that Rose has led or co-directed after any Masters Round, four more than any other player in the history of the tournament without victory. Rose led more laps here than dozens of masters of masters on several occasions, notably Tom Watson (seven), Seve Ballesteros (six) and Nick Faldo (three, each being the one that ends with a green jacket ceremony).
2 If Rose won this week, he would establish records for the oldest winner (Mark O’Meara, 41 years old in 1998) and most begin before the first victory (20, one more than Sergio Garcia 19). Since the first masters in 1934, Rose has been the 26th player to be taken by three strokes after the first round of a male championship. Eleven of the 25, or 44% previous, won. This masters fence rate is 4-en-8.
Four years ago, Rose brought an advance of four strokes in the second round after opening 65. His advance was over after the 2, and he fell four behind the possible winner Hideki Matsuyama after 54 holes. As Thursday, Rose turned off the lights of this opening in 2021, winning almost five strokes on the Greens in Augusta National. He won only 1.12 in the three remaining combined rounds.
3 and 3 The defending champion Scottie Scheffler carded a 68, putting himself in a day position 1 ideal for winning a third green jacket. Scheffler became without Bogey, just as he did in the first round a year ago, making him the fourth title champion of the Masters to open his week with a round without Bogey in the past 30 years. However, this was not an omen of victory. None of the previous three – Jose Maria Olazabal in 1995, Jordan Spieth in 2016 or Tiger Woods in 2020 – won.
Scheffler lost about half a stroke half-stroke on the ground with its ballooning 1 of the Masters of 2020, its debut in tournaments. He did not make access to negative cerebral vascular accidents in this metric only one round since – 20 consecutive cycles of his out thumb and the approach being better than the average at Augusta national.
Scheffler now has an average score in the first round of 69.2 at the Masters, the best in the history of the tournament for anyone with at least five departures.
4 A year after completing the Solo-Second in its Masters’ beginnings (and the major championship), Ludvig ǻberg is again part of the history of the Masters. In 2024, the establishment of ǻberg was the statistical fuel of his success – he directed the tournament in delivery on the Greens. On Thursday, his driving excelled: ǻberg was the only player on the field to win two or more shots with gunshots. ǺBERG also reached 15 of the 18 green regulations during the day, a shy of the chief of field (Harris English).
After a first round 73 here a year ago, ǻberg is 12 sub-valves in his last four rounds. Although no player won during his master’s beginnings since Fuzzy Zaceller in 1979, many second -year students from Augusta recently did so, notably Charl Schwartzel, Spieth and Danny Willett since 2010.
5 Corey Conners completes the three -back trio of rose. Conners, who knew more about his stellar approach game, was unusually hot with the putter on Thursday. During the first 24 laps of his master’s career, the Canadian was neutrality in the blows gained in place (0.05 per turn). Today, he has won nearly three strokes, among the directors of the estate.
Conners has somewhat gathered a solid CV at Augusta National. He is one of the eight players with three TOP 10 or more at the Masters in the past five years. From 2020 to 2024, Conners ranked fourth among all the participants of the masters in AVC won a ball striking per turn and sixth in Birdies-Ou-Beter. The best major finish of Conners was an equality for sixth here in 2022.
6. Bryson Dechambeau opened with 69, which made the years consecutive, he started the masters with a round in the 1960s. Dechambeau carded seven birdies during the day, the fifth time he did seven or more in a round since 2019 – most of all the players of this period.
The question is whether the major double winner can maintain this success until Sunday. During his supervisory career, his score average is almost two complete shots around 1 (71.3) that the rest of the week (73.2). His average Bogey goes up (from 2.9 to 4.3 per turn) and his putting goes from a force (+0.70 strokes won in putting per turn) to a weakness (-0.72).
Tyrrell Hatton also opened with 69, the first time in his master’s career, he started the week with a figure of less than 70. Hatton, who had an average of four Bogeys or worse per turn at the Masters entering this week, had only one (in the 17th) on Thursday. He had his best finish in Augusta last year, ending equally for the ninth.
7 The couples, now 65 years old, turned around Thursday with a round under the age of 71, 42 years after having broken the Masters for the first time. It is the longest period of this player’s career, Breaking the 40-year-old record shared Jack Nicklaus (1960-2000). The 1992 Masters champion is the second oldest player to get under the peer at the Masters, about a month less than when Watson did 10 years ago.
Thursday scored the 58th round under the career by couples, tied to the third best of all time with Watson, and behind Phil Mickelson (60) and Nicklaus (71).
8 For more than 14 holes on Thursday, it seemed that McILroy fully exorked his Augusta demons at the beginning of the week. His 33 on the first nine was his best during the first round of a masters since 2011. When he left the 14th tee, he was four sous and without Bogey for his round, with one by 5 to play while he was chasing his longtime teammate from the Ryder Cup, Rose.
Demons returned to roar the 15th green. McILroy struck his chip from behind the too hard putting surface. Its ball rolled in the water, finally resulting in a double bogey. Two holes later at 17 years old, he carded a six, giving him his first round with more than a double bogey or worse in 11 years.
This is the seventh consecutive year, McILroy was six shots or more after the first round of the Masters. Only one of the last 19 winners of the Masters was more than four head shots after the first round, and only two men in history came from seven to win – Faldo in 1990 and Tiger Woods in 2005.
9. Nick Dunlap has led a young career charmed to date. Last year, he became the first player in more than three decades to win a PGA Tour event as an amateur. Later in the year, he became the only man in the history of the PGA Tour to win a tournament as an amateur and pro of the same season.
Today, however, Dunlap has made the story of which he preferred not to be a part. Dunlap carded a score of 90, the highest by all players under 50 at the Masters from Charles Kunkle, Jr. pulled a 95 in 1956.
Here is a half-glass opportunity, however: shoot a 68 or less on Friday, and Dunlap holds the record for the largest recovery in the 1-round tour 1 in the history of the Masters. Craig Wood improved his score in the first round by 21 strokes in 1936 (88-67), then won the tournament five years later.
While Dunlap fired 90, no player recorded a score in the 80s on Thursday. This is the third time that Masters have been a first round without score in the 80s. In 1979 and 2020, each player who signed a dashboard pulled 79 or less.
10 The fifth hole played as the most difficult on the route, with an average of more than half a nastiness on the peer (4.55). Only two birdies were made there all day, making it the ninth opening lap in a row where six players or less carded a better score than the hard peer.
The 11th was the third the hardest hole on the dashboard, but the most difficult pin to bring it closer: the players have on average outside 60 feet on the approach shots 1. A year after having given a single eagle all week, the 15th returned a pair on day 1.
(Top photo of Rory McILroy: Andrew Redington / Getty Images)
