Three Hour Rain Delay for Round 1
Darkness of the Edge: Your PGA Tour Brunch is arriving at 7:00am EST today as the first round of The Masters will continue at 7:30am EST. Darkness set in at Augusta last night because of the morning delay for “inclement weather.”
The opening round was delayed for about 10 minutes because of fog but began anyway with honorary tee shots by Gary Player and Jack Nicklaus. With thunder and lightning threatening, the horn blew 26 minutes into the day and golfers were removed from the course until 10:22am EST when they resumed play.
44 players will need to complete R-1 starting at 7:30am.
Thursday’s opening round for Tiger Woods marked the first time in his 23 Masters appearances that he played a bogey-free Round One.
Sergio Garcia and Joaquin Neimann both withdrew after positive COVID-19 tests. Trever Immelman announced last December that he would withdraw from the tournament and work for CBS Sports.
Partial Leaderboard - (link)
Paul Casey 65 (-7) - F
Webb Simpson 67 (-5) - F
Xander Schauffele 67 (-5) - F
Justin Thomas (-5) - Through 10th
Eight golfers at (-4); Five of them in clubhouse (F)
Tournament Notebook
Paul Casey tied his career-low score in a major, and improved on 2019 first-round score at The Masters by 16 strokes. In April 2019, he shot a nine-over (81). Casey’s best result in 65 prior major championship appearances was a T-2 at the 2020 PGA Championship.
Larry Mize shot two-under (70), his best round at Augusta National since 2009.
Tiger Woods is in search of his 83rd PGA Tour victory and is urrently tied with Sam Snead for most all-time. Tiger’s also seeking his 16th major championship title and currently stands as second all-time, three behind Jack Nicklaus. Lastly, Woods is in pursuit of his sixth Masters Tournament win and is currently second all-time, one behind Nicklaus.
Justin Thomas made six birdies on his first 10 holes and is currently T-2 (-5). Thomas has not finished in the top 10 at the Masters in four appearances with his best result last year when he T-12.
Bogey-free R-1 were played by: Paul Casey (65), Webb Simpson (67), Tiger Woods (68).
Sports Business and the Golf Industry
Masters in November May Drive CBS to Tough Decisions on Sunday (Sportico)
What They’re Saying
Casey Takes Early Lead at 2020 Masters (Masters dot com)
Masters Tournament Info - (link)
Tiger’s Shot-by-Shot Recap (USA Today/Golf Week)
2020 Masters Coverage by (Augusta dot com)
Round One Photo Coverage - (link)
Happy Felix Unger Day (link)