DeChambeau, Scheffler emerge from difficult Day 1 at 2024 Masters

Bryson DeChambeau posted a 7-under-par 65 and held a one-shot lead over Scottie Scheffler after one round of the 2024 Masters Tournament on Thursday, which ended in darkness with 37 players left on the course and was completed Friday morning. 

An overnight storm dropped an inch of rain on Augusta National Thursday morning and forced a two hour, 30 minute weather delay. Play on Thursday started at 10:30am and was suspended at 7:51pm, and while the greens may have been softened slightly by the rain, the field was forced to play through winds reaching guest of 30 mph. The wind was particularly brutal when play resumed on Friday.

DeChambeau, with eight birdies against one bogey, became the fourth player in Masters history to post a first-round score of 66 or lower more than once. He opened with a 66 in 2019, but faded to a T29 finish. 

"I've tried to be a little bit smarter out there on the golf course and not try to go for broke and go for every flag, but place it in the right position, said DeChambeau, who won the 2020 U.S. Open with a bomb-and-guage approach but has struggled at Augusta National.

In his seven previous Masters, DeChambeau has never finished higher than T21 - when he was Low Amateur in 2016. Bryson has missed the cut each of the last two years, and posted two over-par rounds in four of his other five appearances. 

“Why have I struggled? I don't know," said DeChambeau. "Only God knows that.”

Bryson DeChambeau's Major Championship Record

Scheffler was the only player in the field play through the winds bogey-free, en route to a 6-under-par 66, his lowest round ever at the Masters. The 2022 Masters champion missed only two fairways, and hit 13 of 18 greens. 

“He's just so efficient with everything,” said Rory McIlroy, who posted a 1-under-par 71 playing in the same group with Scheffler. “If you look at Scottie compared to the rest of the field, the amount of bogey-free rounds he plays and he shoots is phenomenal, and that's the secret to winning major championships and winning big-time golf tournaments, is more limiting the mistakes rather than making a ton of birdies."

Said Scheffler: "It's the first day of the tournament. Like I said, I was just trying to hit good shots and stay patient out there. You cannot force yourself into making birdies around this golf course. It just doesn't really lend itself to that, especially with the high winds."

Max Homa, playing in his fifth Masters, posted his first sub-70 round of his Masters career, carding seven birdies against two bogeys for a 5-under-par 67. 

Homa had posted just two sub-par rounds in his previous 12 over Augusta National, a first-round 70 in 2020, and a first-round 71 last year. His four previous finishes were T43, T48 with two missed cuts - Homa 

Nicolai Hojgaard, thanks to chip-ins on Nos. 7 & 12, was 5-under at the end of Thursday's play, and parred out on Friday. Playing in his first Masters, Hojgaard birdied all four par-5s, with a good, old-fashioned birdie on 11. Hojgaard's only bogey came on the par-3 6th.

Danny Willett and Cam Davis were three shots off DeChambeau's lead at 4-under-par 68. 

Joaquin Niemann, who received a special international invitation, made one bogey and one double en route to a 2-under-par 70. 

Defending champ Jon Rahm was 2-under through eight holes, but made four bogeys on the back nine to post a 1-over-par 73.

Tiger Woods was 1-under-par through 13 holes when play ended Thursday, posting a birdies on the first hole and No. 8 with his lone bogey coming on the par-4 third. Woods bogeyed No. 14, his first hole Friday, and the 18th hole to finish at 1-over-par 73.  

Amateur Neal Shipley (70) made only one bogey on the par-5 15th. 

Cam Smith was the only other player without a bogey, however Smith made a double on 12. 

The only other players limiting Augusta National's Round One damage to two bogeys were Corey Conners (70), Xander Schauffele (72), Sepp Straka (73) and Tony Finau. 

Friday's difficult early-morning conditions claimed 2023 Open Champion Brian Harman who finished triple-double-double for an 81. 

Augusta National's finishing two holes were extremely punishing, yielding nine birdies combined. 

No. 17 yielded only four birdies (DeChambeau, Thorbjorn Olesen, Joaquin Niemann, Cam Young, Max Homa), while 5 players (Danny Willett, Adrian Meronk, amateur Stewart Hagestad, Brooks Koepka, Collin Morikawa) were the only players to birdie 18, with Patrick Cantlay sinking a 146-yard pitching for a finishing eagle. 

"Just a perfect pitching wedge, little small pitching wedge number, rode the wind, and fortunately went right in," Cantlay said.

The par-3 fourth hole, playing at 177 yards, yielded only three birdies (Sergio Garcia, Emiliano Grillo, Tom Kim), against 15 bogeys and two doubles (Sam Burns, Jason Day). 

The difficult, uphill par-4 fifth yielded six birdies (Russell Henley, Jon Rahm, Cam Davis, Tyrrel Hatton, Max Homa) while the field posted 23 bogeys and six double-bogeys.

The par-5 15th hole saw seven double bogeys, a triple and a quadrupal-bogey nine by Jordan Spieth. The last Masters that saw the 15th hole play over par for four rounds was 1999.

The par-5 scoreboard: 

No. 2: one eagle (Kurt Kitayama), 26 birdies with only four bogeys and two doubles. 

No. 8: 3 eagles (Ryan Fox, Austin Eckroat, amateur Santiago de la Fuente), 49 birdies and only three bogeys. 

No. 13: 3 eagles (Min Woo Lee, Will Zalatoris, Vijay Singh), 35 birdies with six bogeys, two doubles.

No. 15: 0 eagles, 22 birdies, 7 bogeys, 7 double bogeys, 1 triple (Christo Lamprecht), 1 quad (Jordan Spieth). Five of the double bogeys and Spieth's 9 came on Friday morning.