Golf: Hovland and Rahm Share First Round Lead at Masters; GSU' Carr Shoots 75
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Defending champion and World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler cards a 4-under 68 (T6), his seventh consecutive under-par score at the Masters (longest active streak).
Georgia Southern fifth-year senior Ben Carr made his Masters Tournament debut and shot a 75 in the first round Thursday at Augusta National Golf Club. Carr Hopes to mmake Friday's cut.
"I learned that I'm a good enough ball striker to hit a decent amount of greens and have some looks. My speed wasn't very good on the greens, and I just never really got comfortable on the green," Carr said. "So that's the goal for tomorrow is to hopefully roll in a few more putts, and I would love the chance coming down the stretch to make the cut."
Carr got off to a solid start and made par on his first three holes. His first birdie came on the par-5 8th as he cleaned up a long lag putt for eagle from the front of the green that left him about seven feet. He added another birdie at the par-5 15th, rolling in a four footer after reaching the green in three.
Carr hit 12 of 18 greens in regulation and had birdie chances. He left birdie tries on 12 and 13 short and slid long birdie putts on 2, 4 and 15 just by the hole. After leaving his approach short on 1, his chip from off the green lipped out of the hole as well.
Carr's 75 tied Harrison Crowe for the second-lowest among amateurs in the field. He is slated to tee off at 8:06 a.m. in Friday's second round.
"We had a decent crowds following us, and I had a lot of friends and family cheering me on. I think it helped me loosen up a little bit and relax. I heard a lot of roars and saw some low numbers, so it looked like a fun day out here," added Carr.
82-time PGA TOUR winner and five-time Masters champion Tiger Woods cards a 2-over 74, his fourth consecutive over-par score at the Masters; Woods, T54, has made 22 consecutive cuts at the Masters (last MC: 1996).
Reigning U.S. Amateur champion Sam Bennett cards a bogey-free 4-under 68, the lowest score by an amateur in a major championship since Viktor Hovland in the final round of the 2019 U.S. Open (67).
Notes: Jason Day (T4/-5) has five top-10s in his last six starts on TOUR including a T5 at the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play in his most recent start; Day, who finished runner-up in his tournament debut in 2011 and added top-fives in 2013 (3rd) and 2019 (T5), is making his 12th start in the Masters and first since 2021.
Cameron Young (T4/-5) is the only professional at 3-under or better that has not won on the PGA TOUR; Young had five runner-up finishes last season and recorded the sixth of his career at the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play two weeks ago.
Defending champion and World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler cards a 4-under 68, his seventh consecutive under-par score at the Masters (longest active streak); Scheffler’s 68 is the lowest first-round score by a defending champion at the Masters since Tiger Woods in 2020 (68).
Sam Burns (T6/-4) becomes the third player on record (1983-present) to make birdie at No. 1, eagle at No. 2 and birdie at No. 3 (or better) in any round of the Masters Tournament (others: Mark O’Meara/R4/2001 and Jodie Mudd/R4/1987).
With a 1-under 71, 63-year-old Fred Couples becomes the oldest player to record an under-par score at the Masters since Tom Watson in 2015 (71/R1).
Kevin Na WD during the first round due to illness; Will Zalatoris WD prior to the start of his round due to injury.
(Thanks to PGA Tour Communications for this recap)
