the times | Friday April 8 2022 2GM 71
Sport
as ever. Five hours after Jack Nicklaus,
Gary Player and Tom Watson had done
their ceremonial duties, nobody had
got beyond two under par.
Padraig Harrington is now 50 and
Rory McIlroy admitted this week that
he had been surprised to see him here
as he had no idea he had qualified. Heinspiration behind him to make good progress
knee and neck problems made him
doubt his ability, and the range of his
problems included a tender aside about
playing post-vasectomy golf.
Even Woods, with his plethora of
physical ailments, has not gone there.
Willett has missed four of five Masters
cuts since his greatest day and his as-
sessment of the 2016 Ryder Cup might
have been used for other arenas in the
interim. “Shit,” he had said at Hazeltine.
Could he elaborate? “Really shit.”
It was, then, a joy to see him set the
clubhouse lead at three under par. “Rel-
atively stress-free,” was his summary
despite the blustery conditions and
what he called Sunday pins. Now the
world No 158, he said: “The memories
are really nice. You can’t come to this
place and not wake up every morning
with a smile on your face. I think it’s im-
possible.”
It grew increasingly congested at the
top towards the end of the opening skir-
mishes. Dustin Johnson, the 2020 win-
ner, was in one of his deceptively lugu-
brious moods, oblivious to the obstacles
that had undone others. He joined
Smith at four under, while members of
the new generation, including the new
world No 1 Scottie Scheffler and Chile’s
23-year-old Joaquin Niemann were
among those another shot adrift.
Smith, 28, is one of those new faces
that say the old, gnarled one got them
into golf. Woods made golf “cool”, he
said, and inspired him to be creative.
Those unfamiliar with Smith will warm
to him if he keeps this pursuit of a first
major on track.
He shaved AUS into the side of his
hair during the Olympics, saying his
country deserved “a shoutout on the
side of the old melon”, and having re-
neged on a deal with his girlfriend to
shave off his mullet if he won on the
PGA Tour, he says his style is now his
lucky charm.
“Yeah baby,” he shouted after a shot
on the 15th. The birdie followed. His tee
shot at the 16th finished five feet from
the hole. He was rolling but Augusta is
never short of late twists.
The fans following Woods and trying
to find crevices in the human wall to
watch, missed treats elsewhere, but
they got to squint at Niemann, playing
in the same group, make an eagle from
105 yards at the 9th.
Thunder and lightning overnight
gave way to a rain delay, dampening the
course but whetting appetites for
Woods’ comeback. The course was soft-
er as a result but the tests were as hardopened with two near-misses for bird-
ies. Then he made two. He was leading.
Nobody noticed.
Woods’ longevity and Smith’s con-
summate progress highlighted other
people’s woes. Back in 2019 it was Fran-
cesco Molinari duelling with Woods for
the green jacket on that mesmerising
Sunday. Molinari has since fallen from
seventh in the world to 178th. He ended
with a round of 78. Late starters, McIl-
roy and Matt Fitzpatrick, were hanging
in.
There was disappointment, too, for
Paul Casey who pulled out before the
start with a recurrence of his back
injury, leaving Smith to play his round
with just Bryson DeChambeau. That
meant lots of time waiting, watching
the group behind and talking about
rugby league. Contrary to that infa-
mous remark of a couple of years ago,
DeChambeau again showed that Au-
gusta National is not a par 67 and fin-
ished with a 76.
The leaderboard has a nice look,
though. Johnson may be hard to stop if
he stays in his groove, but the ease with
which Smith got over his two horror
holes hints that he has the right tem-
perament to stay involved. “I’ve moved
on already,” he said. “I’m done with it.”Harmon’s ‘Partridge moment’The Sky Sports commentator Butch
Harmon told viewers “Fasten your
seatbelt, folks!” as Tiger Woods took
his first shot yesterday, apparently
forgetting the player’s lengthy
absence from the sport was the
result of a car crash.Sport
Leaderboard
Early leading first-round scores
(United States unless stated; * denotes amateur)Im-Sung-jae (S Kor)-5 67 — — — 67C Smith (Aus) -4 68 — — — 68
D Willett (Eng) -3 69 — — — 69
J Niemann (Chile)-3 69 — — — 69
S Scheffler -3 69 — — — 69
C Conners (Can)-2 70 — — — 70
J Kokrak -2 70 — — — 70
H Higgs -1 71 — — — 71
K Na -1 71 — — — 71
D Berger -1 71 — — — 71
T Woods -1 71 — — — 71
T Finau -1 71 — — — 71
L Westwood (Eng) E 72 — — — 72
L Glover E 72 — — — 72
C Champ E 72 — — — 72
G Higgo (SA) E 72 — — — 72
*K Nakajima (Jap) E 72 — — — 72T Gooch E 72 — — — 72
C Schwartzel (SA) E 72 — — — 72
H Matsuyama (Jap)E 72 — — — 72
E Bezuidenhout (SA)+1 73 — — — 73
R van Rooyen (SA) +1 73 — — — 73Lee Min-woo (Aus)+1 73 — — — 73
M Hughes (Can) +1 73 — — — 73
R MacIntyre (Scot) +1 73 — — — 73
B Watson +1 73 — — — 73
T Hoge +1 73 — — — 73
R Henley +1 73 — — — 73
S Lowry (Ire) +1 73 — — — 73
J J Spaun +2 74 — — — 74
*A Greaser +2 74 — — — 74
P Harrington (Ire)+2 74 — — — 74
M Weir (Can) +2 74 — — — 74
S Straka (Aut) +2 74 — — — 74
L K-hoon (S Kor)+2 74 — — — 74
B Harman +2 74 — — — 74
Z Johnson +2 74 — — — 74
M Homa +2 74 — — — 74
S Power (Ire) +2 74 — — — 74
L Herbert (Aus) +2 74 — — — 74
P Reed +2 74 — — — 74
A Scott (Aus) +2 74 — — — 74
C Davis (Aus) +3 75 — — — 75
F Couples +3 75 — — — 75
G Migliozzi (It) +3 75 — — — 75
T Kanaya (Japan)+3 75 — — — 75G Woodland +3 75 — — — 75
R Palmer +3 75 — — — 75
K Kisner +3 75 — — — 75
T Fleetwood (Eng)+3 75 — — — 75
J Thomas +3 76 — — — 75
Kim Si-woo (S Kor)+4 76 — — — 76Par R1 R2 R3 R4TotalJUSTIN LANE/EPA; GREGORY SHAMUS/GETTY IMAGESOther scores US unless stated
76 L Oosthuizen (SA); J Rose (Eng); S Cink; B
DeChambeau; B Langer (Ger). 77 C Young, H
Swafford, J M Olazabal (Sp); L Mize; L List. 78
V Singh (Fiji); F Molinari (It). 79 *S Hagestad.
81 M Wolff; L Shepherd (Eng); *J Piot; A Jarvis.
82 S Lyle (Scot). WD P Casey (Eng).Woods hits driver
at the 7th. Im,
right, was among
the day-one
pacesetters with
a 67, two shots
better than
Willett, belowThe Masters
day two
Augusta National
First group at 1pm
TV: Sky Sports Golf,
from 2pmSmith lines up to put on the second