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The poster announced Bryson DeChambeau as the star of the evening.
American, 27 years old, the biggest puncher on the circuit, terror of Augusta.
He raised his fists DeChambeau, a sack of muscle, and hit, boy did he hit, even if some of his long-awaited bullets ended up in the air.
The Masters finally opened the doors of green heaven (it seemed that it would never start; the seven-month delay in the calendar due to the pandemic was joined by the three-hour interruption due to rain shortly after starting), and under its spotlights unleashed the real storm.
An army marches in search of the green jacket.
Paul Casey was a metronome with five
birdies
and an
eagle
to sign -7, Tiger Woods made it clear that they will have to kill him a thousand times no matter how much his bones hurt (-4), Jon Rahm knows that this is his, and he does not want to let her escape even once (-3), DeChambeau mixed the fine and the thick (-2) ... The Masters has been made to wait.
It was worth it.
That Jon Rahm is ripe to win the Masters was seen in the first round.
After losing the fairway on the 11th hole (his second of the day, he started on the 10th), he loaded very soon with a
bogey
to which he added another on the next hole, in the heart of an empty and sad Amen Corner, missing a
short
putt
.
Her hot blood might have made him lose perspective at another time.
No longer.
At 26 years old on Tuesday, Rahm plays with the passion of the aspirant and the patience of the one who has been number one in the world.
It only took a stroke to straighten the course.
The exit of 13. Par five.
The Basque played it with a squad and caught the
redeeming
birdie
.
Hell out.
Rahm does not bend in bad times.
An exemplary approach shot leads to eagle for Rahm on No. 2. #themasters pic.twitter.com/DAaKsgGbzY
- The Masters (@TheMasters) November 12, 2020
The first nine holes were closed with a fist closed by another
birdie
and in the second round came the explosion.
His second shot on hole 2 earned him a privileged spot among the best of the day.
Heading to the flag for the
eagle
.
With morale soaring, he accelerated with another lesson from the fairway at 3 to lower the score further.
And although he discounted a shot at 7 (
missed
putt
,
bogey
) and did not play par-five on 8, he is sitting in the noble zone.
They are already eight rounds in a row falling below par at Augusta.
Much credit.
"There have been many ups and downs, but I'm happy, it's a good start to the tournament. I would have signed it before starting the day," he analyzed.
Rahm had the front row for the DeChambeau show.
The gunner appeared, aim averted.
And the power without control ... As an example hole 13. A bad start was followed by another bad shot, the ball lost in the bushes and a double
bogey
.
Without the
greens
maps
that are not allowed in Augusta, and that the American can read like no one else, he lacked security.
Even so, he left two right hands to get the binoculars out.
On hole 5 he sent the ball 317 meters.
On the 9th, at 333. Even the television cameras had a hard time following the missile across the sky.
Along with Rory McIlroy and Cameron Champ, in the court of the biggest punchers.
His penance, which only took eight streets out of 14 (57%), by 12 out of 14 in Rahm (85%).
Using the slopes.
Tiger Woods birdies No. 16 to reach -3 at #themasters pic.twitter.com/TZlWyHTWg8
- The Masters (@TheMasters) November 12, 2020
For now, the jacket is from Tiger, firm as an oak.
No hassle from the start, good recoveries, reliable in the short game, no bogey for the first time in his last 106 rounds in a big game.
And smiling a lot during the day.
It's the magic of Augusta.
Complete classification after the first day.
A drain like that of Bayern
Augusta doesn't look like Augusta.
It's not April but November, and the azaleas that only bloom in spring are gone, leaving the Masters without its explosion of color.
The trees are not green postcards, but an ocher and reddish hue paints a melancholic landscape, sadder still for the lack of fans, only the golfers accompanied by some journalists and relatives.
It is played in the middle of a cemetery silence.
The Masters looks like a silent movie.
To make matters worse, a deluge dyes the atmosphere even more gray.
The waterspout is such first thing in the morning that the whole day seems in danger.
Not in Augusta.
“This is the most prepared field there is,” explains Daniel Carretero, who for two years worked in the select team of greenkeepers in charge of caring for this open-air museum.
“What you see is a spectacular field, but underneath there is another wonder.
Even CBS has millions of buried cables.
The greens have drainage on all sides.
It is like a soccer field.
Augusta has a hydronic system like that of the Bayern Munich stadium.
Heats the subfloor.
Air is expelled, which with the heat of the water in the pipes makes the greens recover as much as possible ”, says Carretero, who after his master's degree in Augusta worked taking care of the grass of the Las Palmas stadium.
Even so, the downpour was noticeable.
The ball stopped when kicking, did not roll in the fairways and stayed stuck in sand traps.
“In cases like this, the main concern at Augusta is maintaining the bunkers.
The sand on the walls is moved downwards and then with shovels it has to be put up and with special rakes it is removed.
This makes the sand more grainy, like balls ”.
It was a lesser evil after a very rough start.