The 20 shots under par that topped

Dustin Johnson

five months ago in the 2020 edition were

burning hot

, the lowest score in the history of the Augusta Masters since its inception in 1934. The average strokes that fall Thursday in November came to 71.41 , a sacrilege.

For the first time, players took control of Augusta National by somehow vulgarizing the toughest greens on earth.

Since then, the green jacket tournament cried out for revenge and needed only one ally to consummate it: spring.

In this way Augusta National is once again the field that controls the players and not the other way around, all but one, the Englishman

Justin Rose

who challenged the hardest and fastest greens that are remembered with a spectacular 65 strokes.

A cumulative -9 in his last 11 holes left him at the top of the standings with a four-stroke lead.

This is the sixth time that Rose has led or co-led a day of the Masters, the fourth in a first day, tying

Jack Nicklaus

as the player who led the most times on the first day of the tournament.

The difference is the six green jackets of advantage that the mythical Golden Bear takes him.


Rahm, satisfied with his peer from the field

Apart from Rose, the average number of strokes on this first day was 75 strokes, with only 12 players below par on the field and suffering unusual for the first day, the tournament's calling card.

Especially the problems came on the greens, some of them so dry and fast, that they appeared at the limit of playability.

The Austrian

Wiesberger

proved it in his flesh,

whose putt on the green of the 15th missed the hole and ended up directly in the water.

The conditions can only worsen with the passage of days and the dryness of the environment, unless the Masters remedies it.

The feeling is that we will attend one of the toughest editions in history.

"There are greens that are on the edge of the precipice", confessed

Rahm

, happy with his first round of the pair, despite finishing with bogey in 18. His result takes him to 13th position at the end of the day and with full options to assault his first great professional triumph.

Rahm was solvent throughout the course, especially around the green, saving valuable pairs on days as complicated as the opening of this Masters 2021. On the 15th hole and after a huge start, the best moment of the day was made with a putt of eagle of just over four meters.

He would end up making his birdie, and did not take advantage of the options on the 16th and especially the 17th hole. An exit to the right on the 18th condemned him to finish with a bogey.

"A good day, it's a great round of golf. It annoys me that the last putt was not better, as soon as I hit it, I knew I was going to the right. If I throw a good putt and miss it, things happen. others, a good day of golf, it is very complicated out there, "said Barrika's goodbye.

Sergio García's

problem

was not on the greens, his +4 (position 60) was forged on a disastrous day from the starting tee.

The 2017 Masters winner stayed afloat as best he could, but he will have to improve his shots with the driver if he wants to aspire to pass the tournament cut.

José María Olazábal's

fight was very commendable,

which ended with +3 and in 53rd place. Veterancy is a degree and more in these conditions that are more reminiscent of the Masters of the 90s, which saw the Spanish being crowned in twice (1994 and 1999), in those nostalgic editions the winner, after four days of the tournament, barely exceeded -10.

"It has been a tough fight, the conditions are extremely difficult, there have been two or three holes where I had no blow because I could not stop the ball on the green, it is nice to see the Masters in these conditions, it is what makes it unique and marks the hallmark of the tournament ", sentenced the Spanish player.

The Shipwreck of Spieth

Of the main favorites without shipwreck, the -1 by

Jordan Spieth

, the Texan ran into a tree on the 9th hole that condemned him to a triple bogey.

From the +2 that he accumulated on his card after the accident, he took advantage of the second nine holes to turn his card over and end up in the ointment, very commendable the start of the player who comes from winning last week in Texas, after three years of drought in his record.

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