An exciting Round 1 at Augusta National saw many of the game’s biggest stars put themselves in ideal positions heading into Friday.
Here are the top numbers and notes from Day 1 of the 89th Masters.
For a record fifth time, Justin Rose holds a share of the lead after Round 1 of the Masters.
Now 44, Rose is the oldest player to lead after Round 1 since Fred Couples held a share of it at age 50 in 2010.
Rose picked up well over five strokes on the field on the greens, leading the field in strokes gained putting by a wide margin.
Rose has had an underreported sum of major championship heartbreak since winning the U.S. Open at Merion a dozen years ago.
The Englishman has racked up 14 top-10 finishes in majors since the beginning of 2014, most of any player without a victory in that span.
Push that statistic forward one year, and you get part of the explanation behind Rose’s pain not being as publicly bemoaned: Rory McIlroy has 21 of them since winning the 2014 PGA.
This is the ninth time Rose has led or co-led following any Masters round, four more than any other player in Tournament history without a victory.
Rose has led more rounds here than scores of multiple-time Masters champions, including the likes of Tom Watson (seven), Seve Ballesteros (six) and Nick Faldo (three, each being the one that ends in a green jacket ceremony).
Should Rose go on to win this week, he would set records for oldest first-time winner (Mark O’Meara, age 41 in 1998) and most starts before first victory (20, one more than Sergio Garcia’s 19).
Since the first Masters in 1934, Rose is the 26th player to lead by three strokes after Round 1 of a men’s major championship.
Eleven of the previous 25, or 44 percent, went on to win.
That closing rate at the Masters is 4-for-8.
Four years ago, Rose carried a four-shot lead into the second round after another opening 65.
His lead was whittled to one after Round 2, and he dropped to four behind eventual winner Hideki Matsuyama after 54 holes.
Like Thursday, Rose putted lights out that opening round in 2021, gaining nearly five strokes on the greens at Augusta National.
He gained just 1.12 in the remaining three rounds combined.
Defending champion Scottie Scheffler carded a 68, putting himself in an ideal Day 1 position to win a third green jacket.
Scheffler went bogey-free, just as he did in the first round a year ago, making him just the fourth defending Masters champion to open his week with a bogeyless round in the last 30 years.
That, however, has not been an omen of victory.
None of the previous three—Jose Maria Olazabal in 1995, Jordan Spieth in 2016 or Tiger Woods in 2020—went on to win.
Scheffler lost about half a stroke to the field with his ball striking in Round 1 of the 2020 Masters, his tournament debut.
He hasn’t had negative strokes gained in that metric a single round since—20 consecutive rounds of his off-the-tee and approach play being better than average at Augusta National.
Scheffler now boasts a first-round scoring average of 69.2 at the Masters, the best in tournament history for anyone with at least five starts.
A year after finishing solo-second in his Masters (and major championship) debut, Ludvig Ǻberg is again part of the Masters story.
In 2024, Ǻberg’s putting was the statistical fuel for his success—he led the tournament in strokes gained on the greens.
On Thursday, his driving excelled: Ǻberg was the only player in the field to gain two or more strokes with shots off the tee.
Ǻberg also hit 15 of 18 greens in regulation on the day, one shy of the field leader (Harris English).
After a first-round 73 here a year ago, Ǻberg is 12-under-par in his last four Masters rounds.
While no player has won in his Masters debut since Fuzzy Zoeller in 1979, plenty of Augusta sophomores have done it recently, including Charl Schwartzel, Spieth and Danny Willett since 2010.
Corey Conners completes the trio three back of Rose.
Conners, who’s known more for his stellar approach play, was uncharacteristically hot with the putter on Thursday.
In the first 24 rounds of his Masters career, the Canadian was right around neutral in strokes gained putting (0.05 per round).
Today, he gained nearly three strokes putting, among the leaders in the field.
Conners has somewhat quietly assembled a strong CV at Augusta National.
He is one of eight players with three or more top-10 finishes at the Masters over the previous five years.
From 2020 through 2024, Conners ranked fourth among all Masters participants in strokes gained ball striking per round and sixth in birdies-or-better.
Conners’ best major finish was a tie for sixth here in 2022.
Bryson DeChambeau opened with 69, making it back-to-back years he has started the Masters with a round in the 60s.
DeChambeau carded seven birdies on the day, the fifth time he’s made seven or more in a round since 2019—most of any player in that span.
The question is if the two-time major winner can sustain this success through Sunday.
In his Masters career, his scoring average is almost two full strokes better in Round 1 (71.3) than the rest of the week (73.2).
His bogey average skyrockets (from 2.9 to 4.3 per round) and his putting goes from a strength (+0.70 strokes gained putting per round) to a weakness (-0.72).
Tyrrell Hatton also opened with 69, the first time in his Masters career he has started the week with a sub-70 figure.
Hatton, who had averaged four bogeys or worse per round at the Masters entering this week, had only one (at the 17th) on Thursday.
He had his best finish at Augusta last year, finishing in a tie for ninth.
Couples, now 65, turned back the clock Thursday with a one-under-par round of 71, 42 years after breaking par at the Masters for the first time.
It’s the longest such period in a player’s career, beating the record of 40 years shared by Jack Nicklaus (1960-2000) and Tom Watson (1975-2015).
The 1992 Masters champion is the second-oldest player to shoot under par at the Masters, about a month younger than when Watson did it 10 years ago.
Thursday marked the 58th round under par of Couples’ career, tied for third-most all-time with Watson, and behind only Phil Mickelson (60) and Nicklaus (71).
For more than 14 holes Thursday, it looked like McIlroy was fully exorcising his early-week Augusta demons.
His 33 on the first nine was his best in the opening round of a Masters since 2011.
When he walked off the 14th tee, he was four-under and bogey-free for his round, with a par 5 left to play as he chased down his longtime Ryder Cup teammate, Rose.
The demons came back roaring on the 15th green.
McIlroy hit his chip from behind the putting surface too hard.
His ball rolled into the water, eventually resulting in a double-bogey seven.
Two holes later at 17, he carded a six, giving him his first Masters round with more than one double bogey or worse in 11 years.
This is the seventh consecutive year McIlroy has been six shots back or more after Round 1 of the Masters.
Only one of the last 19 Masters winners has been more than four shots off the lead after Round 1, and only two men in history have come from seven back to win—Faldo in 1990 and Tiger Woods in 2005.
Nick Dunlap has led a charmed young career to date.
Last year, he became the first player in more than three decades to win a PGA Tour event as an amateur.
Later in the year, he became the only man in PGA Tour history to win a tournament as both an amateur and a pro in the same season.
Today, however, Dunlap made history he’d rather not be a part of.
Dunlap carded a score of 90, the highest by any player under the age of 50 at the Masters since Charles Kunkle, Jr. shot a 95 in 1956.
Here’s a glass-half-full opportunity, though: shoot a 68 or lower on Friday, and Dunlap will own the record for greatest turnaround from Round 1 to Round 2 in Masters history.
Craig Wood bettered his first-round score by 21 strokes in 1936 (88-67), then went on to win the tournament five years later.
While Dunlap shot 90, no player recorded a score in the 80s on Thursday.
It’s the third time the Masters has had a first round without a score in the 80s.
In 1979 and 2020, every player who signed a scorecard shot 79 or lower.
The fifth hole played as the toughest on the course, averaging more than half a stroke over par (4.55).
Only two birdies were made there the entire day, making this the ninth opening round in a row where six or fewer players carded a score better than par at the tough par 4.
The 11th was the third-hardest hole on the scorecard but the toughest pin to get it close to: Players averaged outside of 60 feet on approach shots in Round 1.
A year after yielding just a single eagle all week, the 15th surrendered a pair of them on Day 1.
image source from：https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6271261/2025/04/10/masters-2025-round-1-rory-mcilroy-justin-rose/
