AUGUSTA, Ga. — With the sun shining bright and Augusta National showing its teeth, Tiger Woods and just about everyone else at the Masters played a game of survival Friday.
This wasn’t a day for going low, just hanging on.
The tees were pushed back, the pin positions were toughened up and the greens began to firm up as the temperature climbed toward the 20s under a brilliant blue sky.
There were exceptions, as usual, this time led by a couple of Englishmen. Lee Westwood made an eagle at No. 2, followed with a birdie at the next hole and surged into the lead, all alone at 8-under. Ian Poulter was right on his heels, one stroke back with a 3-under score for the round through 12 holes.
American Ricky Barnes was another shot behind.
Mike Weir of Bright’s Grove, Ont., was even through seven holes after opening with a 1-under 71.
Sixteen players dipped into the 60s during the opening round, when a 40-km/h wind that gusted up in the middle of the day provided about the only defence for the course.
Fred Couples was out front Thursday with a 6-under 66, his lowest round ever in the Masters and making him, at age 50, the oldest player to hold the outright lead after the opening round of the Masters.
He wasn’t the only one to go low. Woods returned to the game from a five-month layoff stemming from his humiliating sex scandal with a 68, the best opening score of his Augusta career. Sixty-year-old Tom Watson shot a bogey-free 67 to put himself in contention again at a major.
None of them was likely to shoot those kind of scores Friday.
Couples was piddling along with a 1-over round through 14 holes, which knocked him three strokes off Westwood’s blistering early pace. Watson was also at 5-under, even though he had his first two bogeys of the tournament at the first and third holes. They were offset by a pair of birdies at No. 2 and 4.
Woods also was even for the day, making the turn with a 36 to stay at 4-under. He picked up his only birdie on the front side at the par-5 second, where he chipped up next to the flag for a short putt. But Woods gave the stroke back at No. 4, failing to get up and down after he flew his approach shot over a bunker behind the green.
The eighth hole provided a telling example of the tougher conditions. With the tee pushed back, Woods needed three shots just to reach the front edge of the green at the par-5 where he made an eagle the previous day. This time, he settled for par.
Some prominent players were really struggling. Steve Stricker, a trendy pick to win his first major, was 2-over through 12 holes and more concerned about making the cut. Three-time major champion Padraig Harrington was 2-over as he walked away from the 13th and also in danger of heading home before the weekend.
Then there was Sandy Lyle, one of four 50-and-older players who broke par in the opening round. The 52-year-old Scotsman soared from a 69 to an 86, making four double-bogeys and a triple-bogey at the 12th.