The 2020 Masters got off to a rollicking start on Thursday, at least after morning rainstorms delayed play for three hours. The rain made the course unusually receptive, and many players took advantage, including leader Paul Casey (seven under) and Tiger Woods (four under).
Several groupings didn’t finish their rounds before dark and will return Friday morning to complete them. Once they do, the second round will get underway. Scroll down to follow along with the action so you don’t miss a moment.
Refresh this page often for the latest updates at the 2020 Masters.
Masters 2020 quick links
— Leaderboard
— How to watch and stream the Masters
— Paul Casey jumps out to Day 1 lead
— Tee times: See when the stars tee off
— Tiger goes low Thursday in title defense
— Browse Masters-themed gear in our Pro Shop
— 3 Top 100 Teachers on how players prep for Augusta
— See the coolest custom gear made for the Masters
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Stock up, stock down as round 1 wraps
Stock up: Dylan Frittelli is alone in second place at six under through 13 holes. The 30-year-old South African is playing in only his second Masters in 2020, but has blended newfound power with superb wedge play through the early portion of his tournament. Meanwhile, Sungjae Im and Justin Thomas sit tied for third at five under.
Stock down: Rory McIlroy. It’s a story we’ve heard all-too-often from Rory — a brutal first round in a big moment. While the rest of the field goes low in round one, the four-time major champ is two over through 13. Perhaps the best moment in McIlroy’s opening round came when he apologized to an Augusta National member for dirtying his green jacket after a prolonged search for an errant shot. Not exactly what McIlroy had envisioned from his first round at Augusta.
1st round back underway Friday morning
Thanks to a 3-hour delay due to inclement weather Thursday morning, our November Masters got off to a slow start. And thus we didn’t finish the first round. The afternoon wave finished plenty of holes but will be back out there to clean up what is left of it Friday morning.
The resumption of play begins at 7:30 a.m. ET, which will also be broadcasted live by ESPN. That’s coffee golf, folks, and we love it.
One player to keep an eye on will be Justin Thomas. Thomas was five under through 10 Thursday, so he’ll be playing the gettable 13th and 15th around 8 a.m. After finishing his first round, he’ll turn around and head straight back to the 10th tee to begin his second round mid-morning, chasing down those gettable holes once again. He could very reasonably run up the leaderboard before noon.
Tiger Woods’ first round in the 2020 Masters was weirdly good
AUGUSTA, Ga. — It was as strange, and about as good, as any round Tiger Woods has played in any major championship.
You can shoot a first-round 68 on mechanics alone, but Tiger didn’t, even though his mechanics, for the first time all year, were excellent.
Yes, of course: Mechanics were the starting point, as they always are, for every golfer in every round. Woods, like the other 91 contestants, was playing a long, soft golf course, and he played it conventionally. He drove, for the most part, long-enough and in play. He hit irons pin-high and watched them come to a screeching halt on the mushy-for-a-day Augusta National greens. He putted solidly on a day you could putt boldly. He played few shots, approach or greenside, out of the long, wet rough.
(File this under weird-but-true: Augusta National had long, wet rough. Stu Francis, the USGA president, was walking through the long, wet rough on Thursday as he followed the Woods group. If you call the rough here the “first cut” you must be the proud owner of a club dictionary. Woods calls it the rough. He calls his green jacket a coat. He calls the pitcher’s mound at Dodger stadium “the bump.” If you follow his lead on these matters, it will serve you well. Really, if Augusta National is going to go down this we-actually-have-rough road, they should probably give the players a “courtesy cut,” a pretentious term of the biz to describe the narrow path of short grass that takes a player through the rough from tee to fairway.)
Read the rest of Michael Bamberger’s column here.
What it’s like to be at this unusual, uncluttered Masters (hint: amazing)
AUGUSTA, Ga. — Thursday evening, as the sun was dipping behind a smattering of clouds and bathing Augusta National in a glorious twilight glow, Amy Mickelson stopped dead in her tracks on the hill behind the 9th green. “Can we just take a moment to admire this?” she said, mostly to herself. “I’m kind of having a moment here.”
Even if you’ve been coming to Augusta for three decades, as Amy has to cheer for her hubby Phil, there was something extraordinary about the opening day of this Masters unlike any other. A thunderstorm early Thursday morning pushed back tee times nearly three hours, forcing many competitors to play until dark, which accounted for the unusually evocative light late in the round, of which former Augusta Chronicle scribe Scott Michaux said, “The last 45 minutes of play was perhaps the most idyllic I’ve ever seen at Augusta.”
But the rest of the day had an unreal quality, too. It was so quiet you could literally hear an acorn drop. With no gallery ropes — and no gallery — the lucky few folks on the grounds could eavesdrop on every green and tee box. It felt voyeuristic. On the par-5 2nd hole, Abe Ancer went for the green after a perfect drive but wound up making a messy bogey out of the front-right bunker. On the next tee box his caddie, Dale Vallely, offered a fact-based pep talk: “It was the right risk-reward choice. That was a good spot to be in two, but it was unlucky that ball [on the third shot] took a big hop forward…”
On the 3rd tee, Mickelson (Phil, not Amy) uncorked a massive block-slice and as his ball sailed toward parts unknown, he broke the awkward silence by muttering softly what everyone was thinking: “Wow.”
Read the rest of Alan Shipnuck’s column here.
2020 Masters tee times: Second round groupings for Friday
The opening round of this year’s Masters was halted shortly after it began when heavy rain storms rolled through the course. The suspensions stretched to three whole hours, with play resuming around 10:30 a.m. ET. Fortunately for the competitors, the weather improved significantly throughout the day Thursday.
However, because of the lengthy delay, not all groups were able to finish their rounds by nightfall Thursday. Therefore, those players will have to return Friday morning to complete Round 1. As a result, second round tee times will be pushed back.
Augusta tournament organizers announced late Thursday that the second round should begin around 9:35 a.m. ET on Friday, provided there are no further delays. So you can add two and a half hours to the original Round 2 tee times. For example, Tiger Woods was initially scheduled to tee off at 12:00 p.m. ET on Friday, but now he will tee off around 2:30 p.m. ET.
Check out complete tee times for Friday’s second round here.
Paul Casey improves by a whopping 16 shots to take the lead
Nineteen months ago, the leader shot his worst-ever round at Augusta National Golf Club. Nineteen months later, the leader tied his best-ever round. A lot has changed since the last Masters. A November start date. No patrons. And Paul Casey. Here are three things you need to know after Thursday’s first round in Augusta, Ga.
Last April, Casey shot a nine-over 81 during the first round of the Masters.
Thursday, he shot a five-birdie, one-eagle, no-bogey 65. A 16-stroke improvement. He leads by two shots over Webb Simpson, Xander Schauffele and Justin Thomas, and three shots over eight players. The first round was delayed by three hours in the morning due to storms, and it will continue Friday morning before Round 2.
Click here to read more about Thursday’s opening round at the Masters.
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