Scott called Thursday conditions at Augusta National 'borderline' unplayable
Scoring at Augusta National was tough on Thursday.
The field average for the first round of the Masters was 74.98, the highest of the 2010s. The first nine played a stroke over par while the second nine played near two strokes over par. With sustained winds near 20 mph and gusts going well above that, and the fact that there are basically no flat lies or shots at Augusta National, making the right decision was tough to do. Then add in speedy greens and some challenging hole locations, and, well, it was a recipe for higher scores.
All told, just 11 players broke par on Thursday, including leader Charley Hoffman who shot an astounding 7-under 65 to take a four-shot lead.
How good was that round? When Rory McIlroy was told by reporters that was the water mark, McIlroy’s only reaction was, “Holy s***!”
Adam Scott had a more cerebral reaction to the Thursday scoring conditions, suggesting they were nearly unplayable at times.
“We were really lucky we had a little rain overnight,” Scott said, “because if the greens were firm like they were in ’07, I don’t know how we would have played today. It was borderline anyway, all swirling around.”
In 2007, Zach Johnson won the Masters with an over-par winning score. Scott opened with 78 that year, and the scoring average on Day 1 was 76.19.
So, it could have been worse.
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Ryan Ballengee is a Yahoo Sports contributor. Find him on Facebook and Twitter.
