Spaniard Jon Rahm played a starring role at the Augusta Masters this Thursday after recovering from a first hole with a double bogey to finish the day leading with Norway’s Viktor Hovland and Brooks Koepka in a 65-stroke, seven under pair.
Jon Rahm didn’t start well, with a double bogey on the first hole fought off with his putt. He needed six shots to top it off, four of them from the green, but it all quickly became an anecdote as he completed two and three with individual birdies.
From that moment on, the man from Barrika showed that he is one of the big favorites to put on the green jacket this Sunday. Five more birdies for a total of seven on the day, plus an eagle in the eight.
“I didn’t dramatize much either. The putts had rolled well, I had read the fall well. It had just been a speed issue and that I had thrown a lot of putts in practice. The one on the first hole wasn’t an easy ‘green’ and when I saw that Justin Thomas was five feet short, it confused me,” explained Barrika.
Hovland shone on the first day of the Masters, managing to be the lone provisional leader for most of the day by drawing a card seven strokes under par. Jon Rahm’s spectacular comeback robbed him of leading alone.
Two more golfers rounded out the top 5 in Augusta, both American Cameron Young and Australian Jason Day hit 67 on the first day.
Behind them seven more golfers with -4, including the defending champion, Scottie Scheffler, the Olympic champion Xander Schauffele, as well as an amateur, Sam Bennet, the first non-pro to break into the top ten since doing so. in 2005.
Scheffler was uneasy on the greens, with some unjustified mistakes by him, but made a good start at four under par, within shot of the leaders. A good Friday will put him back in contention for the title.
There were favorites like Jordan Spieth who saved the day despite many problems. He came to throw two balls into the water on three consecutive holes. Two bogeys in five and eleven, as well as a double bogey in thirteen, robbed him of being among the leaders.
There was a lot of anticipation about the route Tiger Woods might take, and what was expected was confirmed, that the punches have them, but the physique doesn’t. Therefore, the legend shone in a round of ups and downs throughout the day, leaving a good taste in his mouth at the end with two consecutive birdies on holes fifteen and sixteen.
Woods ends the day with one stroke over par for the field, a good result that gives him options to make the cut after Friday’s day.
Sergio García ended his Thursday with 74 strokes (+2), a result that will allow him to keep options to make the cut but will force him to make no mistakes on Friday. In his first card in this edition of the Masters, the 2017 winner of the year had nine magnificent first holes with two birdies on six and eight.
He lost that lead in the second part of the tour, in which he opted for four bogeys. Three of them back to back on holes thirteen, fourteen and fifteen.
Chema Olazábal had a rough day, with two bogeys and a double bogey in the first three holes. Since then a very remarkable tour for the veteran, who finished his first tour with 77 strokes.
Chilean Joaquín Niemann had a brilliant start in Augusta and quickly went downhill thanks to four birdies on the front nine. He was unable to maintain that level in the second part of his journey and suffered with the ‘bogeys’ in twelve, thirteen, fifteen and eighteen.
He ended up drawing one under par, while his compatriot, Mito Pereira, finished the day with 74 shots.
Argentina’s Mateo Fernández de Oliveira, one of the amateurs in the tournament, invited after winning the Latin American Amateur Championship, debuted four shots over par.
Mexican Abraham Ancer, in his fourth entry to Augusta, ended the day with the pair of the field, knowing how to react as he got to +3 after a difficult first part of the route. Between holes thirteen and sixteen he made three birdies that made him forget his previous mistakes.
Source: El heraldo

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