Harrington and Clarke even par at Masters

Solid performances from Ireland’s Pádriag Harrington and Darren Clarke have seen them remain well in contention as the 69th Masters championship began after a lengthy rain delay at Augusta National.

Fri, 08 Apr, 2005 - 03:42

Clarke, paired with Tiger Woods, finished with a bogey on the third to stand level par and Harrington’s closing bogey on the 14th left him on the same mark.

Ulsterman Graeme McDowell’s debut turned into a nightmare however, with a back-nine 42 and then a double bogey on the first.

Luke Donald is leading the European charge on three under par, just one shot off the lead held by Chris DiMarco.

Only 24 players finished their rounds and leader in the clubhouse following a superb three-under 69 was Australian Mark Hensby.

There were thrills and spills aplenty after play finally got under way - mostly spills, it has to be said.

The crowd at the long 13th saw Tiger Woods send an eagle putt into Rae’s Creek and England’s Paul Casey, sixth on his debut last year, run up a quintuple bogey 10.

Those on the ninth saw three-time champion Nick Faldo quit with a back injury when standing four-over.

Those on the first saw Woods’s 90-yard pitch hit the flag and bounce into a bunker. And those on the second saw Woods hook a drive that hit trees and travelled barely 100 yards.

But the fans surrounding the short 16th witnessed something that has never been seen on any hole in the history of the tournament – a 14.

That was not by Woods, but by 1970 champion Billy Casper, who returning to the event at the age of 73 dumped five balls into the lake before finally making it over and then three-putting.

Casper beat by one the 13s of Tom Weiskopf at the 12th in 1980 and Tommy Nakajima at the 13th in 1978 – and beat by three the previous worst on the 16th by Herman Barron 55 years ago.

It was one of four unwanted records Casper set or equalled.

His back nine of 57 – which came first because the delayed start led to the 93-strong field being sent off from the first and 10th tees – was the worst by eight.

His round of 106 was the worst by 11 and his front nine 49 matched the worst-ever.

Whether his round score appears in the record books remains to be seen, however. Coming off the final green Casper was given his card, put it in his pocket and did not hand it in to the official scorers.

“I was only going to play 18 holes – I just had to get it out of my system,” he said. “I wanted to do it again. A lot of my grandchildren were here.”

At least he was spared the highest scores in major history. Ray Tinsley had a 19 on one hole in the US Open and JD Tucker shot an amazing 157 in the first round of the 1898 US Open.

It was only recently that some of the ‘golden oldies’ received letters from the club suggesting they reconsider their lifetime exemption into the event.

Casper has not made the halfway cut since 1979, but after staying away for three years he decided he wanted to come back and play at least once more.

His struggles rather camouflaged the fact that Gary Player was only one away from matching the front nine record with a calamitous 48.

Now 69, Player triple-bogeyed the short fourth, double-bogeyed the first and seventh, and his only par was on the long second.

Casey had been so looking forward to coming back as well after such a successful debut, but he turned in 40 and then, after a birdie at the 12th, fell victim to the next.

The Ryder Cup star reloaded on the tee after hooking into Rae’s Creek and then misjudged the wind to put himself back in trouble.

With a 79 he was joint 82nd of the 91 players who remained following Faldo’s withdrawal and Casper’s self-disqualification.

Woods had to battle for all he was worth to be two-over after 12 holes when the light ran out, while Ernie Els, runner-up last year, set off with two bogeys and hit into the lake on the 15th.

He will return in the morning three-over with seven to play.

27-year-old debutant Luke Donald, second in the Players Championship two weeks ago, turned in 35 and after bogeying the first then birdied the next three, including a putt from off the green on the 205-yard fourth.

When play was halted he was three-under with Hensby, one behind American DiMarco, who had his own hat-trick of birdies at the start of the outward half to reach four-under.

As for Mickelson, he chipped in on the second after opening with a bogey and when a 30-footer dropped on the 10th the left-hander stood two-under and joint fourth.

World number one Vijay Singh got to three-under but bogeyed the 11th in the gathering gloom to fall back.

The first shock of the tournament was to see David Duval’s name at the top of the leaderboard.

Now 593rd in the rankings after an almighty slump, the former world number one had two early birdies, but he then bogeyed the seventh, ninth, 10th, 11th and 13th and finished in 75.

Lee Westwood finished bogey-bogey to stand three-over.

Very happy with his day’s work was David Howell, another of the European first-timers, who was first out and came in with a level-par 72.

Collated scores after the first day of the Masters tournament, Augusta National, Augusta, Georgia, United States (completed rounds only):

(USA unless stated, par 72)

(Play suspended due to darkness, round to be completed Friday): (x) denotes amateurs

69 Mark Hensby (Aus)

72 Jonathan Kaye, David Howell (Gbr), Casey Wittenberg

73 Trevor Immelman (Rsa), Rod Pampling (Aus)

74 Jeff Maggert

75 Kirk Triplett, Jerry Kelly, Shaun Micheel, David Duval

76 Jim Furyk, Bo Van Pelt, Steve Flesch

77 Tom Watson, Ted Purdy