On a day when Augusta National brought 93 participants to their knees (literally in some cases), and Charley Hoffman shot an historic 65, somebody won the golf tournament with a 71 or 72.
We don’t know who that somebody is yet, and we won’t until Sunday, but the list of superstars sitting behind the leader ready to pounce is monumental.
Phil Mickelson, Justin Rose and Sergio Garcia lead the pack of contenders behind Hoffman, who shot an outrageous 31 on the second nine on Thursday and leads by four over William McGirt and five over Lee Westwood.
That trio got around in 1-under 71 and fought for every inch of cold, wind-swept real estate they could find on Thursday in a wacky first round.
“I thought anything at par or better was going to be a great score and it is,” Mickelson said after making an eagle and three birdies to just four bogeys on the day. “It’s a day you’re not going to go low, you just try to fight to stay around par and stay in it.”
Rose, who shot a 34 on the first nine and also finished with 71, agreed with Mickelson.
“You beat the golf course today, you can be pretty proud of yourself,” Rose said. “It was certainly very, very tough out there. I haven’t played this course in a heavy wind like this before, or certainly nothing this heavy. And there’s no respite out there. Even simple tap‑ins aren’t simple. I found that was the toughest thing for me.”
