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AUGUSTA, Ga. — Robert MacIntyre summed up the difficulty posed by firm, breezy and fast Augusta National with a single gesture on Thursday.
His middle finger, aimed at the green at the par-5 15th, after his approach shot found the water.
MacIntyre wasn't alone in expressing his displeasure during the first round of the Masters; Tyrrell Hatton flashed a different gesture with a similar meaning after his approach at the seventh hit the flagstick and spun into a bunker. Nor was MacIntyre alone in dealing with a course that started tough, got tougher, and might not have reached peak toughness yet.
"Stuff can happen quick around this place," said his playing partner, Scottie Scheffler, "and it's really hard."
Defending champion Rory McIlory and Sam Burns were atop the leaderboard at 5 under after the opening round, though both played earlier in the day, when the course was softer and more receptive. That Scheffler managed his 2-under 70 while playing in the second-to-last group only made the two-time champion's round look better.
"I think when the greens get that firm," McIlroy said, "you really have to think about where the best miss is. And distance control is very important. ... It makes it a much more tactical test, and you really have to think about things."
It's been dry across northern Georgia this spring, with abundant sunshine and warm temperatures. Those are ideal golfing conditions if you're a weekend hacker at the local muni. But for the those playing in the Masters, that's more like a recipe for carnage.
There were tee shots and layups Thursday that bounded through crispy fairways and right into the water. Approach shots ricocheted off rock-hard greens as if they had landed on a concrete parking lot. And those same greens picked up so much speed by the time they were baked to well-done late in the day that some players putted right off of them.
MacIntyre did that, two holes before angrily flashing the bird at the 15th. He shot 80.
"I take back what I said on Tuesday. I didn't think it was firm. Now it's like a Saturday firm, I would say, for a Thursday, which is not normal," Min Woo Lee said. "Yeah, it is nearly baked out. Those last six holes — I mean, 15 was not unplayable, but it was very hard, even for a lob wedge in, you know, where we're one-bouncing towards the back of the edge.
"It's tough," Lee said. "It's very tough."
It could get tougher, too, depending on the whims of those in charge. They could soak the coarse at any point, softening it up enough to allow the greens to be a bit more welcoming. Or, they could let the course go, getting harder and harder all weekend.
"They can do whatever they want with the golf course, can't they? That's the beauty of it," Tommy Fleetwood said. "I think you never quite know what you're going to get out here until you hit into the first green, see the ball routes on the first. For sure, they're having absolutely perfect conditions to make it as firm and fast as they want. It's up to them what they want to do with it."
The last time the winning score at the Masters was single digits under par was 2016, when Danny Willett won at 5 under thanks in part to Jordan Spieth's late meltdown. (Spieth opened with 66 that year.) And the last time the winning score was over par was 2007, when Zach Johnson finished 1 over in weekend conditions that featured gusty winds and bone-chilling cold.
Rose tied for fifth that year and remembers the brutal nature of the conditions.
"That was probably the toughest I've seen it play," he said.
Might this weekend be even tougher?
The forecast calls for more sunshine and temperatures approaching 80 degrees Fahrenheit (27 Celsius) on Friday. They are expected to climb even higher for the weekend, with a heat index around 90 degrees — and not a drop of rain in sight.
"This could be the toughest Masters we've played in a while," Shane Lowry said. "They can do whatever they want with the course this weekend. I think over the last few years we've had a day every year where it's been raining or it's been heavy rains. It's kind of helped us a little bit. But I think before the week is out, it's going to get very, very crusty around here."
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