Dustin Johnson put together a solid first round Thursday at the Masters Tournament, adding himself to the list of names atop a crowded leaderboard.
The 34-year-old shot 4-under-par 68, good for a fourth-place tie. He sits two shots back of co-leaders Bryson DeChambeau and Brooks Koepka.
Johnson took advantage of what Augusta National gave him, finishing 3-under on par-5s after hitting 11 of 14 fairways, and 15 greens in regulation at Augusta National.
"Four-under is a good score around here any day. And first round that's all you kind of want is just to get off to a good start," he said. "I felt I drove it well, hit a lot of good iron shots, put the ball where I wanted to on the greens and hit some nice putts. I'm very pleased with how I played."
PHOTOS: First round at Augusta National
With heavy doses of rain Monday and Tuesday, the course played softer than it normally does. For Johnson, though, the two key factors were wind and pin placement.
"I thought the course conditions were great. The wind picked up this afternoon and made it a little bit tricky, but other than that the course is in fantastic condition. I felt they did a great job with the way they got the course ready.
"They had some new pins out today, some tricky pins. Yeah, it was tough. A lot of pins, which is no different than any other day out here," he said. "You've got some pins you can get it close to and then you've got some pins where it's impossible to get close to it unless you've hit a bad shot. But, yeah, I mean I felt like the setup was great. Felt like it played pretty difficult."
As one of 28 players under par, Johnson believes the logjam at the top will work itself out throughout the tournament.
"I feel like after Day 1 that's generally how it always is. There's some good scores and I felt like it played tough," he said. "You have guys that are always going to shoot some good scores around here."