🏌🏽 Rory McIlroy, apparently unencumbered by the weight of expectations — his and others — came alive on the second nine for a 5-under 67 to share the first-round lead at the Masters. Could this be the launching pad for McIlroy’s career second act?
🏌🏽 McIlroy was asked why there wasn’t more Irish food on his menu for the Champions Dinner. He said, “I want to enjoy the dinner, too.” Nothing like Mom used to make, huh?
🏌🏽 The real shining light of this year’s Masters is likely to be the Augusta National course itself. With no rain and firm, fast conditions, the committee will be able to set up the course any way it wants. Could this be the best Masters in years?
🏌🏽 Robert McIntyre gave the finger to the pond fronting the 15th green after he made a quadruple-bogey nine with two balls in the water on Thursday. Tyrrell Hatton made the same gesture to the flagstick at the seventh when his second shot hit the stick and bounced back into a bunker. Wonder how many players were thinking of doing that and didn’t? Or wish they had?
🏌🏽 Jon Rahm and Bryson DeChambeau, both pre-tournament favorites, were humbled — humiliated? — in the first round, with Rahm posting 78 and DeChambeau 76. Would it help if they played harder courses on LIV Golf?
🏌🏽 Frankie Fleetwood, 8-year-old son of Tommy, was once again the star of the Par-3 Contest, although he didn't get the ball on the green at the 120-yard ninth this year, either. He said when he goes to the range, “I get nervous because of (the contest). I just think about this every single day when I go there.” Would someone let him know that, in his shoes, the rest of us would be nervous, too?
🏌🏽 Masters chairman Fred Ridley is on board with the USGA’s intended rollback of the golf ball scheduled to take effect for elite players in 2030. But only 16 players were under par in the first round of the Masters on Thursday. Wasn’t the course enough of a defense?
🏌🏽 In the midst of the Masters frenzy, it almost slipped our minds that J.J. Spaun won the Valero Texas Open for his third Tour victory and the first since last June’s U.S. Open. Was that a validation win?
🏌🏽 Mark Calcavecchia, the 1989 British Open champion, was escorted from the grounds at Augusta National for breaking the Masters rule prohibiting the use of cellphones. They really mean it, don’t they?
