Anrold Palmer gets 75th Masters off to a fast start
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Arnold Palmer got the 75th Masters underway with a magnificent drive down the left half of the fairway.
It’s always a heart-in-the-mouth moment when these old boys hit the honorary tee shots; and a decade ago Sam Snead hit his straight right, hitting a spectator, breaking his glasses and producing a lot of blood!
A couple of years ago, when Arnie hit his first ever shot as Honorary Starter, he hit an ugly duck hook. But, this time, it was a corker. Jack Nicklaus, playing 25 years after his unforgettable victory at the age of 46 in 1986, and not to be outdone, outdrove his longtime combatant, splitting the fairway with a drive that many in the field of 99 would settle for.
For many spectators, it seemed slightly surprising that the great South African, Gary Player, didn’t join Palmer and Nicklaus this year as an Honorary Starter; especially as this is the 50th anniversary of his win in 1961, the first victory by an ‘international’ player.
When Player was asked about this in his Tuesday press conference, he did seem slightly surprised and maybe disappointed he hadn’t received the call up. “When I’m asked to do that [be an Honorary Starter] I’ll be very pleased to do that. If I’m ever asked; I’ll be very pleased to do that.”
Of the early starters, the two Brits Ross Fisher and Sandy Lyle (in the first and second groups of the day respectively) would have settled for Nicklaus’s drive at the 1st without any doubt. Both found their first tee shots finishing in the bunker on the right of the 1st fairway; and both ended up making a bogey on the opening hole.
Fisher came back strongly, to make three birdies on the 2nd, 5th and 6th, and is currently leading the Masters on 1-under-par, with Sean O’Hair, Jerry Kelly, Heath Slocum, Dustin johnson, Tim Clark and Aaron Baddeley.
Adam Scott, who has an extraordinarily disappointing record in the major championships, got off to another rough start, making a double bogey at the 1st.
