AUGUSTA This was the day.
All that humidity kept the greens relatively soft and there was hardly a breeze.
It’s a recipe for birdies and eagles and more birdies.
They came early and often, and this leaderboard is comically.
It’s as simple as that.
Here are a few notes, nuggets and takeaways from Augusta National.
A mid-iron to the center of the green and Rahm was off and running…into disaster.
He hammered the first putt eight feet past, a major faux pas on greens as slippery as these.
He insists he made a good stroke for par but it missed high and trickled out to five feet.
It’s not that Rahm immediately let that blunder go.
That’s not who he is.
“I definitely swung hard on that one.
If that ball didn’t turn, that was going to cover the bunker for sure.”
A mid iron from there found the right side of the green set up a simple two-putt birdie.
There were six more where that came from, plus an eagle on 8.
“I’ve played really well this year, right?
Maybe not the last few tournaments, but I’m feeling confident, obviously.
Hopefully I can keep it going.
I know it’s the first day and there’s a long way to go.”
Brooks sure looks like it’s back
Let’s get philosophical for a second.
What, exactly does winning a LIV Golf event mean?
The golf world isn’t yet sure how to process a victory on the rival circuit.
That’s a guy with four major championships and three runner-ups, including one here at Augusta.
“Once you feel good, everything changes…I don’t think I’ve rediscovered anything.
I just think I’m healthy, so I can move the way I want to.
When you break three, it’s kind of nice.
He’d make bogey on the newly-lengthened hole, making his 65 even more eye-catching.
More of the same from Tiger Woods
He tried to warn us.
He has all the shots, he said.
It’s just that walking thing.
As he put it: “It is what it is.”
He played 18 events in 2018 and five before the Masters in 2019.
It’s impossible to replicate under-the-gun pressure at homeWoods knows this, and he wishes he could play more.
But this injury is not like the others.
He is in constant pain, by his own admission.
“I felt like I drove it good,” Woods said.
“I just didn’t do the job I need to do to get the ball close.
Most of the guys are going low today.
This was the day to do it.
This is going to be an interesting finish to the tournament with the weather coming in.”
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