Scotland’s Robert MacIntyre survived a mini-crisis mid-round and came out of his Augusta debut with a highly creditable 74 on the first day of the Masters.
The young Scot had four bogeys in a row from the eighth hole around Augusta National’s tough turn and looked to be struggling.
But he steeled himself with birdies at the two par fives on the back nine and holed a brilliant flop shot on 17 for another birdie to come away with a two-over score, to lie in a tie for 35th.
Revenge for November?
TAKE THAT….🕺
As #TheMasters debuts go a first round 74 (+2) from @robert1lefty with a little bit of everything will do just fine 👏🏽👊🏽
Highlight an outstanding chip in at 17 🐥
Currently T33, we will take that and on to tomorrow..➡️
⛳🇺🇲🏌🏼♂️🏴🌺😎 pic.twitter.com/mNEsUD8g6x
— Bounce (@bouncespmgt) April 8, 2021
This was not the soft, receptive Augusta of November’s lockdown Masters. The club’s course set-up staff had their revenge in full for the low scoring five months ago, with conditions as tough as they’ve been for two decades for an opening day.
Augusta is known as a “second shot” golf course. That was particularly true on the first round with the greens so treacherously quick, browning and speeding up as the day progressed.
MacIntyre had a solid knock down the first fairway to the edge of the right-side bunker, but found himself with the first of a series of brutal two-putts. He left his first nine feet away, but made it for his par.
At the long second again he leaked his second shot into the left greenside bunker, but played a finely judged shot to five feet and made it for his first birdie of the day.
But a bold drive at the short par third and a poor pitch left him off the green in two, and he took three more to get down to hand the shot right back.
Big birdie at six
A regulation par at the short fourth was followed by another dropped shot at the fifth, three-putting from the front edge, but MacIntyre got the stroke back immediately at the sixth, holing from 30 feet for his birdie two.
The stretch that threw the 24-year-old off kilter was from the long eighth, where he had three successive poor strikes up the left treeline and a penalty drop, before missing a 10 foot par putt.
A second three-putt followed from good position in the fairway at nine, and then he leaked a shot from the perfect spot in the 10th fairway into a bunker and couldn’t get up and down.
#TheMasters debutant Robert MacIntyre insists he is at Augusta with the belief he can win the Green Jacket and revealed an ex-champion has provided some "little secrets"…
— Sky Sports Scotland (@ScotlandSky) April 7, 2021
It seemed to unravelling at the 11th, Macintyre and his caddie Mike Thomson audibly pleading with his ball not to go into the pond after the second shot was wide right and he overcooked the pitch. A five for a fourth successive bogey was maybe even a bonus there.
Stopping the rot after 11
But that stopped the rot and a two-putt from 40 feet at the 12th brought a relieving par. Although MacIntyre again didn’t catch his second at the famous 13th quite right after a perfect drive, the Scot made a great up and down from the back of the green for a key birdie.
A par followed at 14 and Robert then went through the back of the 15th in two, but the short game blossomed with a brilliant chip to four feet and a fourth birdie on the day.
But his tee shot at the 16th was in a tough spot above the hole, and there was no stopping the chip down the slope. The par putt brushed the hole, but it was back to three-over.
Masters 2021: The main contenders for a Green Jacket as we’re back in Augusta in April
A big bonus at 17
The fun came on 17, after a poor drive and a recovery left 25 yards short of the green with a bunker in the way. Undeterred, MacIntyre hit a perfect flop shot and it bounced once before sliding in for a birdie three.
A two-putt par at the 18th – he was just a club short of being perfect with his approach – completed the 74.
Martin Laird, returning to the Masters after a few years’ absence, had a solid 74 in the conditions. The Glasgow-born four-time winner in the US bogeyed the first two holes of both nines, but he ground out a series of pars and picked up the odd birdie including a beauty at the short 16th.
A bogey at the last left him also with a 74, with a great shout at making the cut.
Sandy Lyle had the briefest share of the lead early in the morning with a birdie four at the second, but it all went downhill from there for the 1987 champion and he finished with a nine-over 81.
