The Augusta National course is known for being particularly challenging, I can't imagine how anyone could put on greens that resemble ice rinks at times. But if you ever wanted to find just how punishing the course can be, Henrik Stenson would be your man. Following a couple of massive hitting eagles on par 5s and the odd birdie he saw himself at the summit of the leaderboard at 5 under. On the 18th tee was where it all started to unravel, starting with a hooked drive left into the trees. As any golfer will know, there always seems to be an attacking line available through a minute gap in the branches and Stenson attempted exactly this. A host of obstacles hit and poor shots ended in a quadruple bogey 8, only the 6th man ever to hit an 8 on the 18th. All of a sudden having envisaged a well earnt rest at the top of the leaderboard he plummetted down to -1, funnily enough a score he may well have taken at the start of the day.All of this on his birthday too!
Elsewhere, Lee Westwood produced a near faultless display, with 6 birdies at regular intervals to lead out on his own at the 5 under Stenson just missed out on. A late surge from Louis Oosthuizen saw him pick up 4 shots in the last 5 holes to sit one shot back from Westwood alongside Paul Lawrie. Some of the other pre tournament favourites played solid round, McIlroy birdied the 17th and 18th to produce a 71, Woods stayed level at an even par 72 and there was a late worry for world number 1 Luke Donald who had a smudge on his scorecard, but even then a 3 over 75 will be a disappointing start.
You can't win the Masters on Thursday but you can certainly lose it, anyone on level par or under will be relatively pleased with their start as they look to push on in the coming days.
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