The Masters Day 1: Augusta bites back

What a contrast to November. Augusta is baked hard and causing the world's top players all sorts of troubles, except for one Justin Rose, of course! Here are some of the main talking points from day one.

Rose leads by four
On a day when only twelve players broke par, Olympic champion Justin Rose produced a truly Olympian performance. Struggling like everyone after seven holes, Rose sat on two-over-par and then it all changed.

Seven birdies followed an eagle at the long 8th hole as Rose covered his last eleven holes in an incredible nine-under for a seven-under round of 65. The Englishman sits four shots ahead of nearest rivals American Brian Harman and Hideki Matsuyama of Japan.
Rory struggles again
It was not the start that Rory wanted as he searched for the missing part of his career grand slam. The man from Northern Ireland has been out of sorts of late and is tumbling down the world rankings and sadly, the bad run continued at Augusta.

Rory's second shot at the 7th hole day summed up his day where he struck a spectator, his father!
Tommy aces the 16th
Coming to the 16th tee Tommy Fleetwood was struggling like everyone else with the Englishman four-over-par. A few minutes later, all was a little better with the world as Tommy fired his tee shot straight at the flag. The ball pitched on the green, bounced a few times and then dived into the cup!

Ancer in a brush with the rules
Naturally, there had to be a rules incident and this time, Abraham Ancer was caught out by a TV close-up on his bunker shot at the 15th hole. Ancer very slightly brushed the sand during his backswing.

The rules violation saw the Mexican receive a two-stroke penalty turning a creditable 73 to a less impressive three-over-par 75, ten back from leader Justin Rose.
Many of the best struggled
Even though Justin Rose made it look easy many of the form horses struggled on day one and there were some not so clever shots!

Gary Player's son in controversy over starter's ceremony
Wayne Player incurred the wrath of social media and pundits when he clearly displayed a sleeve of OnCore golf balls in the shot's background as the television cameras focused on Lee Elder during this morning's honorary starter's ceremony at Augusta National.

Player has been an ambassador of OnCore since 2019 but the manufacturer was quick to distance itself from the stunt, stating:
"We did not ask or instruct Mr Player to have our ball sleeve visible during the ceremony and are sorry if his actions caused any offense or was a distraction from the wonderful recognition being paid to Mr Elder."