Defending champion Tiger Woods has scored his best-ever opening round at the US Masters and lies three shots behind clubhouse leader Paul Casey, after darkness suspended play at Augusta National Golf Club.
Five-times Masters champion Woods, who had struggled for form in 2020, suddenly looked revived and in command on his familiar stomping ground, as he carded a four-under-par 68.
The performance marked his first bogey-free round at the Masters and his first over the last 106 Major rounds.
"It was good all around," says Woods. "I drove it well, hit my irons well and putted well.
"There's really nothing, looking back on it, that I could have done a little bit better."
A near three-hour delay, due to lightning and rain, forced players off the course 25 minutes after the first groups teed off and ensured first-round action would spill into day two, given the decreased November daylight.
Woods, whose defence of his fifth Green Jacket was already delayed for seven months by COVID-19, began on the back nine three hours later than scheduled, but seemed unbothered, as he birdied the 13th and 15th holes.
He nearly aced the par-three 16th, where he walked off the green with a familiar swagger, after tapping in from two feet for birdie, delivering a modest fist pump after a birdie at the par-four first and closing with a string of pars.
Englishman Casey, who has one top-five finish in 13 Masters appearances and missed the cut last year, eagled the par-five second hole - his 11th - en route to a seven-under-par 65 that left him two shots clear of Webb Simpson and Xander Schauffele.
Japan's Hideki Matsuyama, Englishman Lee Westwood, South African Louis Oosthuizen and former Masters champion Patrick Reed finished a further shot back in a group with Woods.
DeChambeau, who overpowered Winged Foot with his driver at September's US Open to win his first Major, began on the back nine and ran into trouble at the par-five 13th, where he carded a double-bogey.
The world No.6 responded with consecutive birdies, starting at the par-five 15th, and after failing to get up and down for par from 18 yards at the seventh, closed his round with two birdies for an opening two-under-par 70.
Among the notables who will not complete their first rounds on Thursday are world No.1 Dustin Johnson, three-time champion Phil Mickelson and Rory McIlroy, who needs a win this week to complete the career Grand Slam of golf's four Majors.
Typically played in early April, the Masters is employing threesomes and sending golfers off both the first and 10th holes over the first two rounds for the first time.
Despite this being a Masters like no other, without paying spectators due to coronavirus concerns, several hundred members crowded the first tee, as Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player hit the ceremonial tee shots to start the tournament in near darkness.
Reuters
