First day of play leaves muddled Masters leaderboard

The Masters Tourna­ment is off to a muddy and muddled start. All the hype and expectation of an epic battle pitting all the best players bringing their peak games to Augusta National didn’t materialize – yet. Don’t try to claim you saw that coming.

Lee Westwood – the least-hyped of the so-called elite – was the only player among the top 15 in the world to rank among the top 13 on the leaderboard. His 67 tied his career-low opening Augusta round and left him four clear of the nearest favorite – giving him exactly what he wished for before the tournament.

“I’m not so excited that everybody is playing well, obviously,” Westwood said. “I wish that everybody was playing poorly.”

The weather forecasts have proved to be more accurate than all the experts. Of the 66 members of the media polled on the eve of the tournament, 47 picked either Rory McIlroy (15), Tiger Woods (10), Phil Mickelson (10), Luke Donald (seven) or Hunter Mahan (five). Only three predicted anyone else inside the current top 10 – Westwood (one) and Bubba Watson (two).

“It’s impossible in golf to predict what’s going to happen,” Charles Howell said. “It’s a hard game, and everybody is still human.”

It’s a particularly hard game when unforeseen external factors play such a key role. The couple of inches of rain that soaked the course this week created a long and soft stage that as often as not left players contending with mud on their golf balls. If there was any consideration of playing lift, clean and place, Augusta National dismissed it.

Padraig Harrington said there was a rumor that they played “lift, clean and walk in if you don’t like it.”

The result is a leaderboard nobody saw coming. McIlroy rallied with two late birdies to get to red figures with 71. Woods fought a case of the Hank Haneys to close with a couple of bogeys and an even 72 along with Mahan. Mickelson had to rally just to get back to 74. Donald had to verify that he indeed signed for the correct score of 75, which was none to his liking.

It all leaves Westwood perched atop a list of players with no real history of Masters success until you get to past champions Zach Johnson and Vijay Singh tied with Jim Furyk for 10th. Not exactly the challengers anyone anticipated.

“Just trying to cruise my way into the tournament today and get in a good position and then hopefully stay there,” Westwood said.

Of course, the Englishman considered the best in the world without a major title understands how fast things can change at Augusta National. He held a five-shot lead over Mickelson on Saturday afternoon two years ago and saw it evaporate in 30 minutes without ever making a bogey.

The expected fearsome foursome endured what was described as a “soap opera” of a day.

McIlroy opened with a double bogey that made him9-over in his last 10 holes at Augusta. He righted the ship and finished with a pair of birdies to get in the red.

“It wasn’t the start that I would have liked to have got off to,” he said. “Making two birdies coming in there was nice to finish under par for the day. It only leaves me four off the lead, and still with 54 holes to play, that’s nothing.”

Woods wrestled with his swing all day in what he described as a relapse of motor movements he attributed to his estranged ex-coach Haney. Perhaps it was just a jab at the man who wrote the unauthorized book about him, but he was clearly out of sorts.

“Same old motor patterns,” he said. “Now I’m struggling with it all the way around with all the clubs. I need to go do some work. The Hank backswing was the new downswing.”

Donald, the world No. 1, had another rough start, as he did last year when he couldn’t quite rally back and settled for fourth.

“I’m disappointed,” he said. “That’s not what I wanted. ... This place is, you know, if you are a little bit off it can eat you up. I made it tough on myself for sure.”

Mickelson started the day watching the honorary starters tee off at 7:40 a.m. and finished his round more than 11 hours later with a couple of consoling birdies. His tournament almost got derailed in the underbrush left of the 10th fairway, leading to a triple bogey.

“I knew walking off 10 green at 4-over I wasn’t going to get them all back before the round was through,” Mickelson said. “But if I could just get a couple back ... with a hot round tomorrow, I’ll get right back in it for the weekend.”

If this were the NCAA Tournament, a lot of brackets would have been broken, but golf is a four-day ride and the Masters is typically wilder than most. As the mud gradually dries, the muddled picture will get clearer and maybe more familiar.

“The players you mentioned are obviously the favorites, and they’re great players,” Howell said. “Come Sunday, I’m sure you’ll see their names pop back up again.”

As Thursday showed, we can’t be too sure.