Tune in to Nine's coverage of The Masters, resuming 5am Saturday on 9Gem and 9Now – with 9Now also featuring three extra feeds, showing Amen Corner (holes 11, 12 and 13), Featured Groups, and Holes 15 and 16 live.
Prior to the Masters beginning, much of the talk had been around how Bryson DeChambeau was changing the face of the game. The bulked-up American, who hits the ball out of sight, would overpower the famed Augusta National golf course.
"I'm looking at it as a par 67 (instead off 72) for me because I can reach all the par-fives in two, no problem," DeChambeau said before the tournament began.
The golfing gods obviously took notice of DeChambeau's boast, because when he reached the first par-five of the tournament, it all went horribly wrong for the 27-year-old.
After starting his round at the 10th, DeChambeau was at even par when he reached the 13th hole, his fourth hole of the day.
His tee shot wasn't great, but certainly not disastrous, finding the pine straw to the right of the fairway. Still, reaching the green in two wasn't out of the question.
It was then that things turned ugly.
His second shot was pulled into the bushes to the left of the green, and, deciding to play a provisional ball in the event the bushes had claimed his original ball for good, promptly found the water in front of the green.
The provisional ball was rendered redundant when the original ball was located in the bushes, although DeChambeau was forced to take a penalty drop for an unplayable lie.
https://twitter.com/AmandaGuerraCBS/status/1326930458140155904?ref_src=twsrc%5EtfwHe left his fourth shot short of the green, played an average chip, and then two-putted for a seven, on a hole where three is not out of the question, and four is expected.
From that point he actually recovered nicely, making birdies at the remaining three par-fives on the course, and finishing with a birdie at the ninth for a round of two-under 70. He's five shots behind Paul Casey, but certainly not out of contention.
The bad news for the reigning US Open champion is the history of Augusta National. The last player to win the Masters after making double-bogey at the 13th was Jack Nicklaus, way back in 1972.
"I just didn't draw it around the corner enough, and I got greedy," DeChambeau said of his adventures at the 13th.
"This golf course, as much as I'm trying to attack it, it can bite back. It's still Augusta National, and it's the Masters. It's an amazing test of golf no matter what way you play it."
https://twitter.com/AlexMyers3/status/1326926721929637889?ref_src=twsrc%5EtfwThe American said he was still thinking he could make par, despite being faced with a difficult pitch for his fourth shot.
"(It was) very difficult. Downhill slope, I had to open the face, if I took it back straight away, I would have hit the bushes, azaleas, so I tried to cut across it and I just got too cute with it, and it came out a little dead," he said.
"It was unfortunate, but at the end of the day I should have been smarter and hit it out, took my medicine and hit it on the green, but hopefully tomorrow I'll hit it in the fairway and have a different opportunity for birdie if not eagle."
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