Woods has lead in sights after solid Masters start

Rory McIlroy’s Masters bid was off to a solid start at Augusta National last night as he continued his newfound form into the opening major of the year.

The 23-year-old PGA champion from Holywood, under pressure for most of the early season having switched clubs and golf ball manufacturer at the start of the year at the same time as his swing unravelled, had rediscovered his touch last weekend in San Antonio when his last-minute decision to play in the Valero Texas Open rather than take a week off before the Masters was repaid with a closing-round 66 and a second-placed finish.

The good times continued to roll yesterday in Georgia as McIlroy launched his campaign to win back-to-back majors and complete the third leg of a career majors grand slam.

The Irishman, whose tie for 15th having led for 63 holes in 2011 represents his best finish in four starts at Augusta National, birdied the par-five second hole and then putted out from 12 feet to birdie the par-three sixth.

He then cancelled out a bogey at the seventh with a birdie at the ninth, both of them par-fours, to make the turn in two-under, only to cough up a shot at the 10th to fall back to one under, five shots behind early clubhouse leader Marc Leishman of Australia, as a storm system closed in on the course, threatening to curtail what had been a warm but overcast opening day at the Masters.

Tournament favourite Tiger Woods beat the potential storms as he got his quest for a 15th major and first for five years up and running with a two-under round of 70.

Solid and unspectacular would neatly describe the opening day’s work of the four-time Masters champion, whose last win at Augusta National came in 2005.

“It was a good day, a solid day,” Woods said. “I thought the greens were a little bit tough in the sense that they just didn’t have the sheen to them, they didn’t have the roll out. A couple of putts, we were talking about it in our group, that just weren’t that fast.

“I hit the ball very solid today and lag-putted pretty good today and I made a few here and there.”

The early leaderboard represented a fascinating cross-section of world golf as England’s David Lynn, who had surprised everybody with his runner-up finish behind McIlroy at Kiawah Island in the PGA Championship last August, continued to raise eyebrows in just his third majors appearance and Masters debut.

Lynn, 39 and from Stoke, carded an opening 68 to sit two back of Leishman in the clubhouse, American Rickie Fowler joining him on four under with US veteran Jim Furyk and former Masters champion Zach Johnson a further shot in arrears following 69s.

There was a strong Spanish presence, too, as Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano was closing in on five-under playing the last only to bogey 18 and take a 68, while Sergio Garcia was also on that mark having played 14 holes and American Dustin Johnson joined him with an eagle at the par-five 13th. Trevor Immelman, the 2008 champion, also carded a 68 while 53-year-old Fred Couples was making his presence felt yet again in this tournament, the 1992 Masters champion reaching three under after 12.

Already in the clubhouse was England’s Justin Rose, many pundits’ tip for a major breakthrough and sitting comfortably at two under but reigning champion Bubba Watson got his title defence off to a much less thrilling start than the way he finished last year’s contest with his play-off win over Louis Oosthuizen. Left-hander Watson ended his day at three over.

Pádraig Harrington, though, will start round two today in a much more difficult position having slumped to his worst round in 14 Masters appearances, a six-over 78 that eclipsed 77s in recorded in 2003, 2005 and 2007.

“I misread and missed a few short putts and crucial times and really lost a lot of momentum,” Harrington said. “That’s the story of my day. It was not a good day for me.

“The 14th was the one. In my head I am birdying 13, 14 and 15 to get back to level and it looked like I hit it in close there and end up making bogey.

“Take three from the edge on 15 and shouldn’t have hit it over the back on 17 off a decent tee shot, trying to come up short and right but hit it too hard and another three putt as well.

“A number of misreads and short putts missed and you need to be holing them for momentum.

“It was a tough day after that. Bad shot on six, straightforward shot. When I look back at it, it was all short game.”