Couples on top as Woods and Mickelson lurk in the shadows

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There is no hotter player in the world at the moment than 50-year-old Freddie Couples and he proved as much by leading after the first round of the 74th Masters.

Okay, Freddie is now on the Champions Tour with the rest of the fat-bellies, but he has won his last three events; and if he puts himself in with a chance on Sunday afternoon, the 1992 Champion will certainly know all about that winning feeling.

His 6-under-par 66 (which would have been one better if his seven-footer hadn’t lipped out on the last) was the lowest round he has ever shot at Augusta National. Having birdied the 1st and the 2nd holes, his only mistake came at the difficult 5th where he made an untidy bogey. He then made another birdie on the par-5 8th to be out in 34, and then proceeded to make five birdies on the back side, at the 12th, 13th 15th and 17th.

And so one of the most hotly anticipated Masters for nearly a decade got underway at 7.40 a.m. with Jack Nicklaus joining Arnold Palmer for the first time ever as an Honorary Starter.

With the threat of a storm and a ‘Weather Warning’ posted on the scoreboards for most of the afternoon, and electricity in the air as the crowds waited patiently for the return to the game of Tiger Woods in the penultimate grouping of the day, it was a classic Masters first round.

As well as Lee Westwood, KJ Choi and Y.E. Yang close to the top of the leaderboard on -5, there was the delightful sight of 60-year-old Tom Watson joining them. After Watson’s heroics at Turnberry at last year’s Open Championship, he seems determined to write his name in the history books as the oldest major championship winner ever. And, as if all this wasn’t enough, America’s current most favourite son, Phil Mickelson, made up the quartet. Of the five players on 5-under, Watson was the only one not to make a bogey.

It is also a pleasure to report that the ‘roars’, missing from recent years, seem to be returning to the pines and dogwoods. The Chairman, Billy Payne, has made it a personal mission to bring this element to the Tournament back, and so pin positions were comparatively lenient, eagles were commonplace and scoring was relatively good.

No roars were bigger than those which met Tiger’s successful 10-foot eagle putt at the 8th and his 12-foot eagle putt at the 15th. Given that there were a dozen eagles during the day, the fact that two of them were from Woods (and that he lipped out for another at the 13th) will make ominous reading for the rest of the field.

For much of the morning no one knew quite how Tiger would react to his five-month self-imposed absence. Reports early in the week had suggested he was battling a pull-hook with his driver, and he was taking time to get used to new shafts in his driver and 3-wood. Some even speculated he might be booed by some of the patrons.

As it turned out, the crowd seemed delighted to have him back, and the only negative was a plane which flew over the course trailing a banner with the words: “Tiger, did you mean bootyism” (a cruel pun on his reference to returning to his Buddhist roots). When the world number one made a birdie at the 3rd to go to 1-under-par, little seemed to have changed about his swing or his game. He will sleep well tonight and be happy to have got a round under his belt.

And so the Masters, which has seen so many changes to the layout in recent years, seems at long last to be returning to its former glories. The Tournament is famous for enabling many of the older figures in the field to have their moment in the limelight. As well as Watson and Couples, 52-year-old Sandy Lyle had a terrific 3-under-par 69, which included birdies at three of the four par-5’s, and two more birdies on the 17th and 18th.

Among those who will be disappointed will be Northern Ireland’s Rory McIlroy who struggled to a 2-over-par 74, and will have to put in a good round tomorrow if he is to make the weekend. Henrik Stenson and Jim Furyk both had 8-over-par 80s, Chris Wood and Oli Wilson had 78s and Vijay Singh and Martin Kaymer had 76s.

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