AUGUSTA, Ga. (AP) — Rory McIlroy began his title defense in the Masters with a tee shot that rolled next to a spectator’s seat. Another one was in the trees. His tee shot on the seventh hole went into the 17th fairway. The prevailing thought was not concern, not the slightest bit of panic. He’s the Masters champion. That brought a measure of patience and a load of freedom. “I just trusted that eventually I’ll start to make some good swings. So that was a little different,” McIlroy said after opening with a 5-under 67, his best start at Augusta National in 15 years, to share the lead with Sam Burns. It seems as though McIlroy has been wearing his Masters green jacket all week — to the weekend activities, to his news conference on Tuesday (Tiger Woods never did that), to the Masters Club dinner that night. And after his opening round? “It’s easier for me to make those swings and not worry about where it goes when I know that I can go to the Champions Locker Room and put my green jacket on at the end of the day,” he said. It wasn’t his best golf, but he got everything out of his round in his bid to become only the fourth player to win back-to-back at Augusta National. “By the way, Rory may never lose this thing again after last year,” Fred Couples said he told his caddie when he heard another cheer, presumably for McIlroy. Only one other player in the last 10 years — Hideki Matsuyama when he won in 2021 — shot 67 while hitting only five fairways. McIlroy was the sixth defending champion to have at least a share of the 18-hole lead, though only Jack Nicklaus (1966) went on to win. There’s a long way to go, and a course that already has everyone’s attention because of how fast and firm it already was on Thursday. Burns was among the early starters. He played the par 5s with three birdies and an eagle and wound up with his lowest score in his fifth Masters appearance. “Historically, people who have success here play the par 5s really well, and we were able to do that today. So it’s a good recipe around this golf course,” Burns said. Scottie Scheffler, the No. 1 player in the world going for a third green jacket in the last five years, was 3 under through three holes in the tougher afternoon, when the light gusts began playing tricks and the greens got crispy. He had one bogey and 14 pars the rest of the way for a 70. The whole day was tough, and the forecast — this could be the first Masters in 25 years without any rain — has everyone on edge thinking what the next three days could hold. Yes, the weather was gorgeous. But dry and firm conditions are scary, even in this marvelous garden. “It’s not right on the edge, but it’s playing nice and firm where you can get yourself in a lot of trouble if you lose control somewhere,” Adam Scott said after a 72. Patrick Reed, the 2018 Masters champion and a two-time winner on the European tour this year, was at 69 along with Jason Day and Kurt Kitayama. Reed was atop the leaderboard for so much of the day due to two eagles on the front nine that sent him out in 31. But he dropped a shot on the 10th, and then was flummoxed by what he thought was an ideal shot for his second into the par-5 15th. Such are the firmness of the greens that his shot hit hard off the back of the green, bounded down the slope and didn’t stop rolling until it was in the pond on No. 16. “Water?” Reed asked his caddie as he looked toward the green. “It landed on the green.” He later described it as a “head-scratcher.” “I knew if it went over the green, we would be fine,” Reed said. “Didn’t really think I was going to go 30 yards over the green.” Justin Rose, twice a playoff loser in the Masters, was in range of the lead until he dropped three shots over the last five holes and had to settle for a 70, tied with Scheffler, Xander Schauffele and Shane Lowry. The greens are already are so firm that Rose quipped, “You might get a yellow jacket if you win.” That was a reference to the shade of the greens — a yellow sheen means firm and fast, and that color on Thursday can make players nervous. Augusta National can still take a bite out of anyone with enough swirling gusts to bring indecision, or bad shots that wind up in the wrong spot. Bryson DeChambeau found that out on the 11th hole when he put his approach in the right bunker and it took him three to get out on his way to a 76. Jon Rahm turned potential birdie or better into a double bogey with a shot into the azalea bushes on the par-5 13th. He didn’t make a birdie in his 78. Only five players broke 70, and only 16 players broke par, the lowest in five years at the Masters for the opening round. Ten players failed to break 80. One of them was Robert MacIntyre of Scotland, the No. 8 player in the world. He was among three players to take quadruple-bogey 9 on the par-5 15th. McIlroy wasn’t sure want to expect in his 18th appearance, his first as the Masters champion. Only twice had he started with rounds in the 60s, his best a 65 in 2011. That year, he went on to shoot 80 on the final day. There were still nerves. It’s still Augusta National. “My hope was to get off to a solid start,” he said. “I feel like the way I played, 5 under, exceeded where I thought I would be or what I wanted to do.” RORY MCILROY TAPS INTO MASTERS CHAMPION CONFIDENCE TO SPARK RALLY AUGUSTA, Ga. — Rory McIlroy admitted he hasn’t felt the same at “certain” golf tournaments since completing the career grand slam 12 months ago, but all the same old feelings came rushing back on the first tee at Augusta National on Thursday. And that’s a good thing, in his estimation. “It’s the Masters. If I felt absolutely nothing on that first tee, that’s not a good sign,” he said after carding a 5-under-par 67 on Thursday to take a share of the lead. “So, it was nice to feel my hand shaking a little bit when the tee went into the ground and struggle to put the ball on top of the tee. “So, I knew I was feeling it. That’s a good thing. That’s why we want to be here. We want to be able to try to play our best golf when we’re feeling like that.” McIlroy entered Thursday with an average opening-round score of 71.7 in 17 previous Masters appearances. He appeared to be well on his way in that direction while missing his first six fairways with his driver and relying heavily on his short game to save several pars. Sitting at even par just off the fairway on the eighth hole, that’s when McIlroy said the pre-Masters champion version of him might have started to lose confidence in his swing. “It started pretty scrappy. I was hitting out of the trees a little bit the first seven holes,” he said. “Sometimes here that would lead me to get tentative and a little ‘guidey,’ and I kept swinging, just trusting that I’m going to find it eventually. “So, maybe that was a little bit different.” Rather than trying to get all of a 5-wood from the first cut off the eighth fairway, McIlroy choked down on a 3-wood and rolled it up to the center of the green. He two-putted for birdie, and the momentum shift was on. McIlroy would go 5 under for his final 11 holes of the day. He said earlier in the week that winning a Masters makes it easier to win a second one. McIlroy is now just the seventh Masters champion to hold at least a share of the first-round lead the following year. The list also includes Jack Burke Jr. (1957), Arnold Palmer (1961), Gary Player (1962), Jack Nicklaus (1966), Jose Maria Olazabal (1995) and Jordan Spieth (2016). “It’s hard to say because there’s still shots out there that you feel a little bit tight with, and you just have to stand up and commit to making a good swing and not worry about really where it goes,” he said. “But I think it’s easier for me to make those swings and not worry about where it goes when I know that I can go to the Champions Locker Room and put my green jacket on and have a Coke Zero at the end of the day.” McIlroy has also said repeatedly that he has things he still wants to accomplish in golf. He has declined to provide specifics other than to say the goal posts “keep nudging a little bit further and further out of reach.” Asked if repeating as Masters champion was one of those goals, McIlroy said that “certainly wasn’t at the forefront of my mind when I started 2026.” But he did admit that it was a good sign that those nerves returned on the first tee at Augusta National. “I was nervous, I was anxious just like I always am on that first tee,” he said. “It’s the first round of the 16 most important rounds of the season. It would be worrisome if I didn’t feel that way, because it still means something to me.” BRYSON DECHAMBEAU HUMBLED BY MISADVENTURES, OPENING 76 AT MASTERS AUGUSTA, Ga. — Bryson DeChambeau knows the feeling of something between proud accomplishment and elation, walking off the 18th green after the first round with the lead at the Masters. And he got reacquainted with the opposite emotion on Thursday. DeChambeau blasted a patron with his tee shot on No. 6 and the generous bounce was a benefit with the ball fading hard left. The patron, later greeted by DeChambeau and gifted the golf ball to pair with the parting bruise, was struck and the ball rolled closer to the green. He whacked and hacked his way out of a sand trap for a triple-bogey 7 at No. 11 and spent time staring at the green on 18, leaning heavily on his upside-down putter and closing out his round of 4-over-par 76 with a a three-putt finish. He birdied Nos. 3 and 17, and made bogey at Nos. 2, 16 and 18. “Bunker was softer than I anticipated,” DeChambeau said exiting the course of his beach challenge at 11. Entering the first round Thursday, DeChambeau had eight consecutive rounds within the top 10 at the Masters. He was closer to the bottom 10 on this day. Iron play was a letdown. DeChambeau overshot the green multiple times. He hit 44% of greens in regulation and was tied for 63rd when he signed his scorecard at 3:30 ET on Thursday afternoon. Of course, he transitioned straight to the driving range where the celebrated grinder appeared certain to test the curfew on the grounds Thursday night. “Just going to give what the golf course gives me. I have to try to hit my irons better,” DeChambeau said. “I drove it left numerous occasions. Did a great job on 18. Wind didn’t hurt it like we thought, and that’s this game. That’s the golf course.” A turnaround isn’t remotely out of the question. DeChambeau held the 18-hole lead with a 65 in the first round in 2024. That followed first-round scores of 76 in 2021 and 2022 and 74 in 2023. No player who has carded a triple-bogey during the tournament has wound up wearing the green jacket on Sunday. “Why am I hooking … everything!?” DeChambeau shouted rhetorically after floating his second on 18 out of the sand and well short of his greenside target. His third, a chip from off the green, landed well left of the hole and side spin took it 30 feet from the hole. A three-putt mercifully ended his round. In his 2024 opening round, the streaky DeChambeau had five birdies in the final seven holes. He doesn’t feel like he’s out of anything yet. “You know, everybody has an ability for weird things to happen, and today I just did not have my irons under control, which is weird,” DeChambeau said. “It’s been good coming into it.” About The Author troyderengowski61@gmail.com See author's posts Post navigation GOLF WEEKLY
