Day 1 of the 2024 Masters Tournament from Augusta National is over, and for many, that moment couldn’t come soon enough.
High winds followed a late start to the round, and made for some interesting shot-making – particularly in the afternoon rounds.
For Bryson DeChambeau and Scottie Scheffler however, Round 1 was about as good as it can get. DeChambeau finished the first round as the clubhouse leader, after a sparkling 7-under, 65. Scottie Scheffler was just one shot back, after a bogey-free 6-under, 66.
DeChambeau never makes a round look easy, but he did exactly that on Thursday. Starting his day out with birdies on the first three holes, he quickly established pace. Five straight pars led to a disappointing bogey on 9. But a solid 34 on the front half is never a bad round at Augusta.
On the back nine, he made very few mistakes and had birdies on five different holes, giving him a 31, for a round of 65. It’s the first time he’s led after the first round of the Masters since 2019, where Tiger Woods stormed to a victory.
Scheffler has been playing better golf than anyone on the planet recently, and his bogey-free round echoed that. Scheffler has only two hurdles in front of him right now: 1) DeChambeau sitting above him on the leaderboard, and 2) a 9-month pregnant wife at home. Scheffler has already said if his wife goes into labor during the tournament, he will withdraw and fly home to be with her.
With play not starting until 10 a.m. thanks to overnight Augusta rains, there was no chance all of the golfers would finish their first rounds. And that will create some challenges for golfers like Tiger, who will have to finish off his first round, before coming back out and playing his second round on Friday. Given his leg stamina issues since his accident, that may prove to be too big a hurdle. Still, he’s not far off the pace, with a solid first round so far.
As it stands, 31 golfers are under par, out of the 89 playing, as Day 1 was blown to a close at 7:51 p.m. Several golfers opted to end their holes, as rules allow.
The first round will resume at 7:45 am. on Friday, where 30 golfers still have to finish the round. Second-round tee times will be adjusted accordingly.
