Lee Westwood leads the Masters after first round - Golf News
Lee Westwood fired a five-under par 67 in the opening round of the Masters Tournament to take the sole lead at the Augusta National Golf Club on Thursday, April 5, 2012.
This is the first time in his career that Westwood has succeeded in taking a lead during the Masters.
However, he was not expecting that kind of distinction especially after carding four consecutive birdies on the front nine.
He said that he could have done even better followed by his run of birdies. However, he only managed to score two birdies on the back nine against a lone bogey that allowed him to take only a one-stroke lead over Louis Oosthuizen and Peter Hanson.
Yet, he was pleased to score five-under on a course that caused huge problems for the participants of the tournament.
Moreover, it is the perfect start for him, the kind he needed in search of the first major victory of his career.
"I've come close," Westwood said. "I've won all there is to win other than a major championship. That's my primary focus and it's been a long time coming around since the PGA last year. It's nice to get off to a good start and have a platform to build from".
The world number two and the hot favourite to win the Masters this year, Rory McIlroy, had a disappointing start, as he scored a double bogey on the very first hole he played.
He recovered slightly by carding three birdies on the front nine. However, two bogeys on the 11th and 13th again took his score over par.
The two back-to-back birdies on the final two holes allowed him to break the par. His final score was one-under par 71 to tie for the 14th position on the leaderboard.
“It was huge,” McIlroy said about the birdies he made to end the round. “I didn’t feel like I had my best out there. To finish under par for the day, I’m very pleased”.
The most interesting incident of the day happened when Luke Donald signed his scorecard with 75 and it was entered as 73 in the electronic system by mistake.
The officials looked into the matter as if Donald made the mistake or it was done by the person who enters the scores in system.
Later, it was revealed that Donald’s bogey on the fifth hole was entered as birdie that created the whole discrepancy.
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