US MASTERS:FOR A TIME yesterday morning, the golfing gods tantalised us. A blanket of fog was thrown over Augusta National Golf Club and, while the green jackets who govern this august establishment can prepare for just about every eventuality, playing as if blindfolded is not one of them.
Tiger, Phil et al had to kick their heels until Mother Nature deemed the time right to start the process of unearthing a successor to Zach Johnson as champion.
Still, the delay - for an hour - was worth every second, as the first round of the 72nd edition of the Masters tournament contrived, unlike a year ago, to produce a plethora of birdies - and eagles - in near-perfect conditions. To be sure, it was good to have roars rather than groans reverberating around the old course.
Indeed, apart from the contrast in the weather, there was a touch of déjà vu about it all as England's Justin Rose - who was first round leader a year ago - again assumed pole position after the opening 18-holes, shooting a superb 68 that was all the better for the fact that he was actually two-over after four holes, while holder Johnson, despite dropping a shot on the 17th, made a strong opening round defence of his title with a round of 70.
"It's great to be back here contending. I've never done this on Thursday, Friday or Saturday. I've only done it on Sunday. But it feels great. It feels great to be back on site playing golf at Augusta National," said Johnson.
Unfortunately for Pádraig Harrington, it wasn't a great day. Like Tiger Woods, Harrington found it difficult to get in on the birdie trail and a long and tough day at the open-air office found the Dubliner signing for a 74, two-over, finishing his round with a bogey after pushing his tee-shot into the trees at the 18th, from where he played a decent recovery-cum-approach shot to greenside, only to fail to get up-and-down to save par.
His putter was as cold as ice on a beautifully hot day.
Woods, too, languished for much of his round, failing to find a single birdie but salvaging something from the threatened abyss when chipping-in for eagle on the par five 15th, having suffered back-to-back bogeys at the 13th and 14th. Woods, the world's number one and the hottest of prechampionship favourites, opened with a level-par 72.
Generally, though, it was a good day for the European challengers. Apart from Rose, who secured his place towards the top-end of the leaderboard, Sweden's Robert Karlsson and England's Ian Poulter - who had a hole-in-one on the 16th - moved into challenging positions with rounds of 70, while 20 years after winning the tournament, Sandy Lyle surged up the leaderboard.
Karlsson's round was especially impressive in that he suffered two bogeys in his opening five holes, only to put matters to right and come home without dropping a further shot.
"It's a good start, a lot better than the 78 I shot last year. I'm happy with the job I've done," confessed Karlsson.
At one stage, the European challenge looked to be even stronger. Luke Donald was three-under after six holes, but frittered away shots.
"It's one of those places where you just have to concentrate on every single shot," lamented Donald, who signed for a 73. "I'll try to focus on the good shots and forget about the bad shots. I'm not out of it by any means."
Much of Harrington's problems, the double-bogey on the fifth apart, were with the putter. Time after time, it seemed, birdie putts went a-begging. On the sixth, eighth, ninth, 10th, 15th they slipped past. Still, he stuck doggedly to his task - none more so than on the 17th, where his approach flew left of the green into the crowd from where he managed to get up-and-down.
That double-bogey on the fifth came after a very solid start. Harrington had birdied the second - pitching dead after playing threewood off the tee and another threewood just short of the greenside bunkers - and made a good par save on the third after his approach pitch came up short of the green.
On the fifth, however, he opted to use his driver for the first time and promptly pushed it so far right it came to rest in a bush. Forced to take a penalty drop, he failed to find the green with his third shot, duffed his chip to the front of the green and made a good two-putt from 40 feet for a costly doublebogey.
Harrington was disappointed with his effort, agreeing that the putter was primarily at fault. "The putter hurt me today," said Harrington, who had 32 putts in his round. "I missed a lot of putts out there and I'm going to have to be better over the next three days. You know, 74 is 74. And bogeying the last is not a nice way to finish. It leaves a sour taste at the end of the round, 73 would have felt so much better."
How damaging is the score? "I've no idea. I still have 54 holes to go and I don't think it's actually going to make too much difference. What's damaging is that I have to putt better. I haven't holed anything during the round, so obviously it was not a good day on the greens. That's the nature of the game. As I've said, I probably want to get my breaks on Sunday, not on Thursday."
