Day 1 at the 2021 Masters

Posted on April 9, 2021 alt_text

Thursday at The Masters Dry, firm and windy conditions were the order of the day, making scoring very tricky. Players going off early definitely enjoyed the better weather and conditions, but only marginally. With drier and bumpier greens, the afternoon wave definitely struggled home, except for 1 man - Justin Rose. Rosie now has 6 leads or co-leads after round 1 at Augusta - the most by anyone without a green jacket, again adding fuel to the fire that this Masters is far from over. Masters 21 Day 1 Leaderboard Rosie set the benchmark, signing for a 65, which proved to be 4 shots better than the next best. The last man to hold a 4 shot lead was Charley Hoffman who also never won. However, the list of potential winners has shrunk dramatically - with only 12 players under par and within 6 of the lead. Thats where the smart money will sit. Masters 21 Day 1 Leaderboard2 The best score of the morning field was a pair of 69s - Harman and Hideki posting these. The most under par at any point was only 4 under by the rest of the field - Leishman getting there in just 6 holes before signing for a 72 . The 2020 day avg was around 71.41 (lowest ever opening round) compared to above 74 this time out. In a nutshell, it was seriously hard out there. Masters21 v Masters20 Momentum was key. Rosie had an 11 hole stretch of 9 under from holes 8 to 18, including a back 9 of 30, which is freak. Rose had been 2 over thru 7 until he reeled off an eagle at 8 followed by a combo of birdies and pars. He also led the strokes gained putting stat - which also included Hideki, Harman and Reed amongst the table toppers. These are all contenders heading into day 2. Masters 21 Day 1 Rose Card Rosie has been a treatment table for much of the spring time and Florida swing - so he will be hoping his rusty back can last and allow him the chance to finally get his hands on a green jacket. He has enjoyed the time off and dedicated to being fully prepared for Augusta. He dedicates himself to the majors, ryder cups and the Olympics. Simple as that. The later starters were under duress, with only Rose under par and on the course late in the day, although there was a feeling that the course softened with a rise in humidity (and the wind dropped) as Rose entered the back 9. Eventually Hatton joined Rose under par late in the day and posted a 71 and Jordan did the same, despite his triple bogey 7, which was bookended by 2 birdies in true Jordan style. Watch out for Hatton and Jordan on Day 2 with earlier starts. Shot of the Day This had to belong to Fleetwood with a delicious ACE on the 16th - late in the day. He took dead aim, while others had tried to use the slope. However, these were also a number of chip-ins which ordinarily would have contended for the honours. These included an eagle 3 by Jordan on 15 which struck the flag, which otherwise was headed into the water. # 15 was a constant threat all day due to the speed and firmness of the greens. Players going long had the scary putt and chip back towards the water (and numerous failed at this challenge), while the 2nd shot required the water carry - again gobbling balls by the dozen. There were so many other stories out there as usual - Ancer's 2 shot penalty (basically a warning to Fatty Feed), The Bulk's tied score with Woosie and trailing Langer on this tricky par 67 layout, the curse of the world # 1 tag at Augusta, Rory's inevitable collapse on day 1 of a major, the list goes on. Catch some of these highlights now: One of our own punters will be heading to Augusta on Sunday so here is a patron's experience from Augusta to consider: punter Picks A real mixed bag out there for punters with only a scattering of the leaderboard covered by punters. Reed and Hideki getting minimal love (1 pick each), whilst Harman had 3 picks with his good recent form. Bucket 1: JT, DJ and Rahmbo all dominated the Bucket’s picks - a whopping 65% of the time. The world’s top 3 came into Augusta on a huge billing and failed to match the hype. Although Rahmbo can lay claim to being unfocussed and eventually posting a respectable 72. Bucket 2: Jordan (as expected), Westie and King Louis are all perennial favourites for punters and were again picked considerably - 51% of the time. However, these punters were due for headaches! At least Jordan recovered from a 7 on #9 to come home in 33 and a 71. Bucket 3: Punters rightfully backed Augusta fan Rosie, who despite coming back from injury, looked in fine fettle and ready for battle. However, only 12% of brave punters included him, with another 28% favouring either Connors, Bubba or JDay - with mixed to terrible results. However, this bucket is more spread than anything with most punters sitting in outliers than the normal favourites. The most common team of majorpunters would have yielded a score of 6 under and would have had punters in the top 5. Stats: Bucket 1: JT 37%, DJ 16%, Rahmbo 12%, Bulk 10% & Rors 6%. Bucket 2: Jordan 31%, Westie 10% King Louis 9%, Casey 9% & Fleetwood 7%. Bucket 3: Rosie 12%, Connors 10%, Bubba 9%, JDay 9% & Frittelli 7%. For a full view of the scores head to the Masters Leaderboard majorpunter Leaderboard: