Augusta, GA …
Russell Knox bluntly admitted his mother could have chipped better after the disappointment of a four over par 76 in tough conditions on the opening day of the Masters.
Knox, and making jus this second appearance at Augusta National, should have felt more at home in the bright but windy and cold conditions, but he again struggled in managing just one birdie but also three bogeys and a 14th hole double bogey.
The effort handed the Scot a then share of 66th place in a Masters field reduced to 93 invitees following the withdrawal of World No. 1 Dustin Johnson.
But then Knox was not alone with playing partner Hideki Matsuyama posting a 76 while USA Ryder Cup captain, Jim Furyk along with double Major winning Zach Johnson, Open Champion, Louis Oosthuizen and past Masters winner Trevor Immelman each carding 77s.
Knox had got off to a confident start with a great drive at the first and while his second was just short, he pulled off a great chip shot than spun back to just a few feet from the hole for par.
He then moved into a share of second with a birdie at the downhill par five second but it proved the high point of his round.
Knox dropped a first stroke at the sixth and then a second at the par four 11th before the double at the ‘Chinese Fir’, the par four 14th and the eight hardest in history at the Masters ahead of a bogey at 18.
“It’s as hard as you’ll ever play today to be honest as the slopes off the greens, how fast they are, the situation is it’s pretty windy,” he said.
“They said it was going to gust 40-mph, but when we were on 14, I almost fell over.
“I played well all day. It was kinda the same as last year, to be honest.
“Overall, I was just untidy. All my bogeys weren’t bad shots, but I’ve got to get up and down.
“I’m just a bit disappointed to shoot that round but I struggled a bit at the end. It’s just so hard. On the last I felt I hit a decent putt and it didn’t even touch the hole.
“My iron play was pretty good. I felt like I hit a lot of solid shots. It’s just tough to get it close enough for birdie. I never made any putts all day. It’s tough on a day like this. You can’t make anything.
“I made one birdie. I mean I’m not getting up and down from right off the edge of the green, where my mum could get up and down from. It was tough.”
Sandy Lyle also was riding high in a share of second place when he birdied the par four third hole to move to one under par but, and as they say in golf, the proud 1988 Masters winner came home in ambulance.
Lyle was back to par with a bogey at seven and he then completed his last eight holes in five over for an eventual five over par 77.
“I played very good for the first nine and I thought if I would get through Amen Corner, and maybe birdie 13 to get back one under or level, I would be very happy,” he said.
“But it just frittered away.
“I had sloppy tee shots, and was out of position a few times. I had to take a penalty on 13 because I was out of position in the Azaleas on the left. I hardly ever go there and I made ‘6’ and I was blocked out on 14.
“So, that was another shot gone and 16 I put it back of the green on the right which you just don’t do.”
Lyle is remarkably contesting his 36th Masters but sadly his 77 continues a recent trend having not broken 70 since a score of 69 of day one in 2010.
