Friday, April 7, 2000
Disaster lurks everywhere at
Augusta — even for Woods
By TIM DAHLBERG
AP Sports Writer
AUGUSTA, Ga. (AP) — On a day when even
Tiger Woods found that disaster lurked everywhere on a toughened
Augusta National, a Masters rookie who has struggled to make a
living playing golf shot a 4-under 68 for the first round lead.
Dennis Paulson watched from the press room
as Tom Lehman made double bogey on the 18th hole to give him sole
possession of the lead.
“It was awesome,” Paulson said.
Lehman didn't make a bogey until the 18th
hole and appeared on his way to the first-round lead despite treacherous
conditions that had Woods feeling good even after an opening 75.
But he hit it into the woods on the final
hole, and then 3-putted to hand the first round lead to Paulson.
“A lot of guys are going to shoot some
big numbers today,” Woods said.
A lot did, but not Paulson, who overcame
rookie jitters to eagle the second hole and withstood a double
bogey on No. 11 to take the lead.
“Maybe a lack of knowledge is better,
not realizing how hard this course can be when the wind is blowing,”
the 37-year-old Paulson said
Gusty winds, more rough and slick greens
combined to make Augusta National a treacherous test that saw
such former champions as Ray Floyd, Seve Ballesteros and Fuzzy
Zoeller fail to break 80.
One former winner was faring better, though.
Six-time champion Jack Nicklaus was even par through 12 holes,
playing in a Big Three pairing that included Arnold Palmer and
Gary Player.
Lehman, who finished second to Jose Maria
Olazabal in 1994, shot a 32 on the front side and added a birdie
on the par-3 16th to get in front. But his tee shot on 18 put
him in trouble and he 3-putted after getting on in three.
Sergio Garcia and Steve Stricker both had
2-under 70s, while Rocco Mediate, Phil Mickelson and Steve Jones
shot 71s in swirling winds that had players guessing about club
selection.
“Every shot is scary,” Nick Faldo
said after an even-par 72.
Woods found that out with a 3-putt on 10
for a double bogey and another 3-putt on 12 for triple bogey after
knocking his tee shot into the water on the tricky par-3.
Woods, who didn't 3-putt once in his 1997
runaway Masters win, came right back with a birdie on 13, though,
and added another on the 16th hole to salvage a 3-over 75.
“I'm surprised. His worst round he
usually keeps around par,” Mickelson said. “I still
feel like he's the guy we're always watching.”
Woods didn't seem troubled, either.
“I'm pleased, it's just that I had
some bad holes,” Woods said.
Player after player ran into trouble on
Augusta National's famed back nine. Craig Stadler, the 1982 champion,
was in contention at 3 under before he hit two shots in the water
for a nine on the par-5 15th and finished with a 73.
Ernie Els was 3 under before dumping a sand
wedge into the pond fronting the 15th green and making double
bogey. Els, who finished with a 72, angrily blamed a rules official
who put his group on the clock for slow play for the shot.
“You're in the lead at the Masters
and you've got some idiot rules official telling you you're out
of position,” Els fumed. “He better stay out of my face.”
Mediate posted the first under par round
of the day, in a roller-coaster round that featured an eagle on
No. 3 and a double bogey on 13.
“It's so hard out there,” Mediate
said. “I love the changes, but this is as good a test as
you'll have in a major.”
The 64th Masters began with Byron Nelson
and Sam Snead in ceremonial first tee drives on a chilly Georgia
morning.
A moment of silence for the late Gene Sarazen
preceded the honorary tee shots from the aging former winners
onto a course that has changed markedly from Snead's last Masters
win in 1954.
The 88-year-old Nelson, using his driver
as a cane on the tee box, hit a ball into the left rough and Snead,
87, followed with a shot of about 150 yards down the right side
of the fairway.
Sarazen, known as the “Squire,”
died last year at the age of 97, a month after he joined Nelson
and Snead on the first tee at Augusta National.
As the rest of the field followed for real,
they found a course that is slicker, hairier, longer and more
full of trees than anyone could have imagined when Nelson won
in 1937 and 1942 and Snead in 1949, 1952 and 1954.
A year after first introducing a light cut
of rough, Augusta National's grass looks like it's on steroids,
spreading into fairways that in the past were carefully coifed.
It's a far cry from 1949 when the greens
were a bumpy Bermuda and the big news was the construction of
Ike's Pond so Dwight Eisenhower could have a place to fish.
“I've seen more changes this year than
I have in a long time,” said Tom Watson, who has won twice
here in 26 appearances and shot 75 today. “Some people call
them subtle changes, but I've seen a lot of change.”
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