There were 89 players in this year’s Masters Tournament, and only 62 made it through their first round. That’s because Augusta National was hit by heavy rain late Wednesday night into Thursday morning.
Then tee times were moved back, and it stayed windy even after it stopped raining. Every direction there was steady wind at 20 miles per hour, with gusts of up to 30 miles per hour.
That made things hard for the players, especially as the day went on. Tiger Woods would even say that the weather was some of the worst he has ever seen at Augusta National.
Even though 27 players still had to finish their first round, we thought it would be a good idea to look at who won and lost on Day 1 of the Masters.
Masters Winners on Day 1
Scottie Scheffler
Scottie Scheffler has clearly won the most on Thursday.
He not only got a great score of 6-under 66, but he also did it without making a mistake whatsoever. That’s what the World No. 1 does all the time these days. It’s pretty creepy.
Scheffler hit the ball so far that it went into all but two of the greens. After that, the big Texan once again beat everyone from the tee to the green.
In that way, he gained 6.42 strokes on the field. He finished in the plus putting, which means he gained 0.62 strokes over the field. It’s likely that the tournament is over if that gets better in the next three days.
He will be behind Bryson DeChambeau by one shot going into Friday.
Golf LIV
The PGA Tour’s rival, which is backed by Saudi Arabia, is also doing very well after the first round.
With a score of 7-under 65, Bryson DeChambeau is in first place. He ran to the front and would have been in charge if Scheffler hadn’t caught up.
But besides him, three other LIV members are also in the top 10 at Augusta National right now.
LIV’s newest player, Tyrrell Hatton, is three under par and will play the par-5 15th when play starts again on Friday. With a 2-under 70, Joaquin Niemann, who is probably the hottest player in the world who isn’t Scheffler, kept up his scorching run.
Patrick Reed is tied with him. Even though there wasn’t much attention on him, the past Masters champion played very well.
Cameron Smith, Sergio Garcia, and Brooks Koepka are all at or above par as well.
LIV Golf is off to a great start.
Tiger Woods
The last winner on Day 1 is the one we already stated, Tiger Woods.
You can easily say that he should be on the other side of this list. He does have to play 23 holes on Friday, after all. That’s not going to be simple.
I think the good things were greater than the bad.
It’s hard to say that a 48-year-old who just got over being sick and hurt is under pressure, but Woods is under pressure.
For one thing, he wants to break the tie with Fred Couples and Gary Player for the most straight cuts in Masters history, which stands at 24.
Tiger doesn’t play to cut down on costs, though. He wants to win. Woods said it himself earlier this week when he said he has one more in him.
However, Tiger is one under after 13 holes, even though it is windy. He’s taking the ball off the tee and seems to be moving around fine. His play on Thursday was usually pretty safe, even when he was at his best.
But Woods needs to show that he can play well every time before he can compete this weekend. The first sign that he might be able to do that was on Thursday.
Masters Day 1 Losers
Nick Taylor
Nick Taylor, a Canadian, is at the top of our list of winners from Day 1. In 2023, he had a great year and broke the Canadian Open curse by becoming the first Canadian to win the event in 69 years.
But Thursday was a very rough day.
After a rough first nine holes, Taylor made five bogeys on the back nine, which included his last three holes. He’ll be 5 strokes over par going into the second round, and he’ll need a very good round on Friday in the crazy winds to even make the cut.
As someone who a lot of people thought could be a dark horse, this was not at all what anyone thought they would do.
Hideki Matsuyama
The Japanese star Hideki Matsuyama was in great shape going into The Masters.
He won the Genesis Invitational against all odds last month, which was very amazing. After that, he tied for 12th place at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, sixth place at the Players Championship, and seventh place at the Valero Texas Open.
People thought that the past Masters winner might be able to compete. That doesn’t seem to be the case after a 4-over 76 on Thursday.
The Rockie Fowler
Rickie Fowler shot a 4-over 76, which means this won’t be the tournament where he breaks through and gets his first major championship. He did the same thing Thursday, when the games were easy.
It’s even hard to say that the Masters Par-3 curse hit him. He won the important event on Wednesday, and no one who won on Wednesday has gone on to win on Sunday.
In 2024, Fowler’s game has lost all of its edge.
In 2023, Fowler broke his streak and won the Travellers Championship. But so far this year, he has missed three of the nine cuts he has played in. The best place he got out of the other six was tied for 35th at Genesis.
There are many signs that Fowler will leave Augusta early again.
