2021 Masters Tournament (28Th of 50 Events in the 2020-21 PGA TOUR Season)
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2021 Masters Tournament (28th of 50 events in the 2020-21 PGA TOUR Season) Augusta, Georgia April 8-11, 2021 FedExCup Points: 600 (winner) Augusta National Golf Club Par/Yards: 36-36—72/7,475 Purse: TBD First-Round Notes – Thursday, April 8, 2021 Weather: Partly cloudy. High of 80. Wind SSW 10-15 mph, gusting to 20 mph. First-Round Leaderboard Justin Rose 65 (-7) Brian Harman 69 (-3) Hideki Matsuyama 69 (-3) Will Zalatoris 70 (-2) Webb Simpson 70 (-2) Christiaan Bezuidenhout 70 (-2) Patrick Reed 70 (-2) Things to Know • Justin Rose ties Jack Nicklaus for the most first-round leads/co-leads in Masters Tournament history • With a 7-under 65, Rose cards his best score in 59 rounds at the Masters • Rose’s four-shot cushion equals the second largest first-round lead at the Masters • Rose holds his 19th first-round lead/co-lead on the PGA TOUR (2-for-18 to date; 0-for-4 in major championships) • 2015 champion Jordan Spieth rallies from a triple bogey on the par-4 ninth hole for a 1-under 71 • Hideki Matsuyama cards his eighth consecutive par-or-better score at the Masters • Entering the week with top-five finishes in his previous two starts on TOUR, Brian Harman opens with a 69 • Tommy Fleetwood records the 23rd ace on No. 16; marks his first ace in an individual stroke-play event on TOUR • 2018 Masters champion Patrick Reed birdies No. 16 for the sixth straight time en route to a 70 • Defending champion and World No. 1 Dustin Johnson posts a 74, including a double bogey on the final hole • First-round scoring comparisons: average (2020/71.413, 2021/74.523), under-par scores (2020/53, 2021/12), scores in the 60s (2020/24, 2021/3) First-Round Lead Notes 17 First-round leaders/co-leaders to win the Masters Tournament (most recent: Dustin Johnson/2020) 5 First-round leaders/co-leaders to win in 2020-21 (most recent: Matt Jones/The Honda Classic) Justin Rose (entering the week) Category Justin Rose Age 40 (July 30, 1980) FedExCup 164 OWGR 41 Starts at the Masters 15 Wins at the Masters 0 Top-10s at the Masters 5 Career PGA TOUR starts 360 Career PGA TOUR wins 10 Career PGA TOUR top-10s 100 PGA TOUR starts in 2020-21 7 PGA TOUR wins in 2020-21 0 PGA TOUR top-10s in 2020-21 0 Justin Rose (1st/65) • Holds his fourth first-round lead/co-lead at the Masters, tied with Jack Nicklaus for most all-time at the Masters • 2013 U.S. Open champion sat 2-over through seven holes; played his final 11 holes in 9-under for a 7-under 65, marking his best score in 59 rounds at the Masters • Four-stroke cushion equals the second-largest 18-hole lead/co-lead at the Masters (Craig Wood/5 strokes/1941) • The 65 equals his best start in 67 major championship starts (2019 U.S. Open); only lower score in a major came in round three of the 2018 Open Championship (64/finished T2) • Holds his 19th first-round lead/co-lead on the PGA TOUR (2-for-18 to date; 2010 Memorial Tournament presented by Nationwide, 2011 BMW Championship) • Entering the week, is 0-4 when holding the first-round lead/co-lead in major championships (2004 Masters/T22, 2007 Masters/T5, 2008 Masters/T36, 2019 U.S. Open/T3) • Most recent of his 10 PGA TOUR victories came at the 2019 Farmers Insurance Open • Finished T2 in 2015 and 2nd in 2017 for his best finishes in 15 appearances at the Masters Additional Player Notes • Making his third appearance at the Masters (MC/2015, T44/2018), former University of Georgia standout Brian Harman (T2) carded a 3-under 69; two of his three top-10 finishes this season have come in his last two starts (T3/THE PLAYERS Championship, T5/WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play) • In 10 starts at the Masters, Hideki Matsuyama (T2) has opened in the 60s twice (2020/68/finished T13, 2021/69/TBD); following opening-round 69, now has eight consecutive par-or-better scores at the Masters; has finished inside the top 20 in five of his last starts at Augusta National, led by a fifth place showing in 2015 • Making his third major championship start (MC/2018 U.S. Open, T6/2020 U.S. Open), Will Zalatoris (T4) opened with a 2-under 70 in his debut appearance at the Masters; has 10 top-25 finishes in 14 starts this season • Despite a double bogey on the par-3 16th hole, Webb Simpson (T4) turned in an opening-round 2-under 70; the 2012 U.S. Open champion has five top-10 finishes in 37 prior major championship appearances, including his last two starts (T8/2020 U.S. Open, T10/2020 Masters) • After playing the par-3 16th hole 6-over in his first 19 rounds at the Masters, 2018 champion Patrick Reed (T4) has birdied the hole six consecutive rounds (dating to the final round in 2019); opened Thursday with a 2-under 70 • 2015 Masters champion Jordan Spieth (T8), winner of last week’s Valero Texas Open, rallied from a triple-bogey 7 on the ninth hole for a 1-under 71; has four top-three finishes in seven starts at the Masters (T2/2014, Won/2015, T2/2016, T11/2017, 3rd/2018, T21/2019, T46/2020); the last player to win on TOUR the week before winning a major was Rory McIlroy (2014 WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational, 2014 PGA Championship) • Following a double bogey on the par-4 18th hole, defending champion Dustin Johnson (T30) posted a 2-over 74 (compared to an opening-round 65 in November); looking to become the fourth player to win back-to-back at the Masters: Jack Nicklaus (1965-66), Nick Faldo (1989-90), Tiger Woods (2001-02) • Tommy Fleetwood (T30) aced the par-3 16th hole with a 9-iron from 170 yards, his first hole-in-one in an individual stroke-play event on TOUR; it marked the 23rd ace on No. 16 at the Masters; posted a first-round 74 • Abraham Ancer (T30) was assessed a two-stroke penalty on No. 15 for unknowingly touching the sand prior to his third shot from the greenside bunker; posted a triple bogey on the hole and went on to post a 3-over 75 • Six players are making their Masters Tournament debut: Zalatoris (70), Robert MacIntyre (74), Charles Osborne (76), Tyler Strafaci (80), Joe Long (82), Carlos Ortiz (82) • Amateur leaderboard: Osborne (76), Strafaci (80), Long (82) Course Statistics Toughest Hole Easiest Hole R1: Par-4 11th (4.511) Par-5 2nd (4.705) Scoring Averages Front 9 Back 9 Total Cumulative R1: 37.159 37.364 74.523 --- Bogey-free rounds R1: None .