Key events
Nicolai Højgaard made his debut here last year, and on Thursday posted a magnificent 67. The young Dane ended the week in a very respectable tie for 16th, by some distance the best finish of his fledgeling major career. He’s making his presence felt this Thursday too, albeit in a more scattershot manner. He’s unable to get up and down from the bunker to the left of the 1st green, and follows that bogey by hooking wildly into the woods at 2, necessitating a reload, and leading to a double bogey. Birdie at the nearly drivable par-four 3rd takes him back up to +2, but the 24-year-old is currently propping up the current 14-player-strong leaderboard.
There are so many traditions to be observed at the beginning of each Masters. Arriving via Magnolia Lane. The Amateur Dinner. The Champions Dinner. Skipping the water at 16. The par-three contest. The Honorary Starters. And someone unexpected nearly always flies out of the traps early doors, able to say for ever more that they once led the Masters, and even though there were only a handful of fellow pros out on the course at the time, facts are facts and there isn’t anything anyone can ever do to rebut it. Step forward then Davis Riley, who took the opening shot of this year’s Tournament and followed a par at Tea Olive with birdie on the par-five 2nd, reward for wedging his approach to ten feet. The 28-year-old from Mississippi is on debut, so this is some introduction to life at golf’s most glamorous major. Great stuff, with the caveat that, unless Riley is to become the first debutant to win since Fuzzy Zoeller in 1979, the only way from here is down.
-1: Riley (3)
E: Vegas (2), Weir (10), M Kim (1), Young (1), Z Johnson (1), Kirk (1)
Preamble
Welcome, patrons, to the 89th staging of the Masters Tournament. The contestants are invited guests and should be treated with courtesy and respect. Although cheering and positive responses to great play are encouraged, unsolicited or consistent calls from the gallery are prohibited. Running is considered to be unacceptable behaviour. Prohibited items include Cell Phones, Beepers, Electronic devices, Tablets, any device with recording and/or transmission capability, Flags, Banners, Signs, Ladders, Periscopes and Weapons of any kind (regardless of permit). Pimento Cheese sandwiches are $1.50 and Iced Tea is two bucks. Defending champion Scottie Scheffler is the favourite, all the tee times are below, and this is the famous CBS theme on a looooong loop to get you in the mood. It’s on! Masters fever is real; won’t someone please call Dr Golf?
First-round tee times (USA unless stated, all times BST)
12.40 Patton Kizzire, Davis Riley
12.51 Nicolai Hoejgaard (Den), Jhonattan Vegas (Ven), Chun-An Yu (Tai)
13.02 Michael Kim, Mike Weir (Can), Cameron Young
13.13 Joe Highsmith, Zach Johnson, Chris Kirk
13.24 Nicolas Echavarria (Col), Davis Thompson, Danny Willett (Eng)
13.35 Noah Kent, Bernhard Langer (Ger), Will Zalatoris
13.52 J. T. Poston, Aaron Rai (Eng), Cameron Smith (Aus)
14.03 Fred Couples, Harris English, Taylor Pendrith (Can)
14.14 Corey Conners (Can), Brian Harman, Stephan Jaeger (Ger)
14.25 Byeong-Hun An (Kor), Max Greyserman, Patrick Reed
14.36 Nick Dunlap, Billy Horschel, Robert MacIntyre (Sco)
14.47 Min-Woo Lee (Aus), Collin Morikawa, Joaquin Niemann (Chi)
14.58 Keegan Bradley, Jason Day (Aus), Phil Mickelson
15.15 Jose Luis Ballester (Spa), Scottie Scheffler, Justin Thomas
15.26 Tyrrell Hatton (Eng), Joo-Hyung Kim (Kor), Jordan Spieth
15.37 Thomas Detry (Bel), Tony Finau, Maverick McNealy
15.48 Rafael Campos (Pur), Cameron Davis (Aus), Austin Eckroat
15.59 Angel Cabrera (Arg), Laurie Canter (Eng), Adam Schenk
16.10 Brian Campbell, Thriston Lawrence (Rsa), Jose Maria Olazabal (Spa)
16.21 Evan Beck, Matthieu Pavon (Fra), Bubba Watson
16.38 Christiaan Bezuidenhout (Rsa), Tom Hoge, Matt McCarty
16.49 Denny McCarthy, Charl Schwartzel (Rsa), Hiroshi Tai (Sgp)
17.00 Max Homa, Justin Rose (Eng), J. J. Spaun
17.11 Justin Hastings (Cay), Dustin Johnson, Nick Taylor (Can)
17.22 Daniel Berger, Sergio Garcia (Spa), Lucas Glover
17.33 Patrick Cantlay, Matthew Fitzpatrick (Eng), Rasmus Hoejgaard (Den)
17.50 Russell Henley, Sung-Jae Im (Kor), Brooks Koepka
18.01 Viktor Hovland (Nor), Xander Schauffele, Adam Scott (Aus)
18.12 Ludvig Aaberg (Swe), Akshay Bhatia, Rory McIlroy (NIrl)
18.23 Bryson DeChambeau, Shane Lowry (Irl), Hideki Matsuyama (Jpn)
18.34 Wyndham Clark, Tommy Fleetwood (Eng), Jon Rahm (Spa)
18.45 Sam Burns, Sepp Straka (Aut), Sahith Theegala
