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Viktor Hovland makes a statement in the first round of the Masters

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Viktor Hovland makes a statement in the first round of the Masters

Reflections on the first round of the Masters.

I’m in two pools, one that I organize every year, and the PG Golf Pool.

There is not one person in both pools who picked Viktor Hovland (Bridgestone Tour B XS).

Hovland carded a seven-under par and went into the clubhouse with sole possession of first place. The only thing Hovland is lacking, in my opinion, is finishing, and you can always see the frustration in his face. He’s too good not to win a major, and maybe it will happen in the Masters.

Jon Rahm (Callaway Chrome Soft X) later matched his score, as did Brooks Koepka (Srixon Z-Star). In my pool, in which you can pick any four players and the lowest overall score wins the jackpot of $600, almost every player picked Rahm, along with Koepka.

In the PG Pool, in which you are only allowed to pick one player a maximum two times in the season-long tournament, there are still some people who hadn’t picked Rahm before or still had one more time left to use him. Quite a few of the players in the PG Golf Pool selected Koepka.

I still have one more chance to pick Rahm, but I’m going to be very selective with it, likely in the Tour Championship. If either Sam Burns (Callaway Chrome Soft X) or Xander Schauffele (Callaway Chrome Soft X) win, it will help me in both pools.

LIV GOLF VS. THE PGA TOUR: Well, it was interesting to see how the LIV players fared, especially Koepka. He was featured in the second episode of the Netflix series Full Swing, and he was going through a real funk during the time he was being interviewed. He basically had lost his confidence. At that point, he didn’t make any mention of LIV, but later in the series he committed to it. So, it didn’t matter whether or not he had any confidence, he was still going to get a guaranteed feed to sign, reportedly $100 million.

So, seeing Koepka open the first round with a sizzling seven-under was one of the most interesting takeaways. Koepka at best is an enigma, and when he played regularly on the PGA Tour the only thing that mattered to him was the four majors. All the other tournaments were nothing more than practice rounds. In that respect, he came away as arrogant, but he backed it up with his play in the majors, winning the PGA Championship and U.S. Open in back-to-back years. He tied for second in the Masters in 2019.

If he wins this year, it will offer further proof of his talent and how he was able to find it again. It would also add to the already constant feud between LIV and the PGA Tour.

FORMER MASTERS CHAMPIONS: Any player who wins the Masters automatically receives a lifetime invitation to play in the tournament for however long they like. It’s sad seeing some players who were once great, as proven by their wins in the Masters, decide to take advantage of the lifetime exemption. There are others, notably Sir Nick Faldo, who decided to bow out because they knew there was no way they could possibly win, let alone even make the cut.

1992 winner Fred Couples (Bridgestone Tour B RXS) keeps coming back and each time there is sentiment for him to win. He finished with a one-under par after the opening round. 2003 winner Mike Weir (Titleist Pro V1x) was even. At the opposite end of the spectrum, 1988 winner Sandy Lyle shot a nine-under par and 1987 winner Larry Mize (TaylorMade TP5) seven-over par.

OBLIGATORY TIGER WOODS NOTE: Tiger (Bridgestone Tour B XS) is straddling the cutline after an opening round two-over par. If he makes the cut, as he did last year, it’s an accomplishment and will automatically attract attention.

 

 
Perry Lefko
Perry Lefko
Perry Lefko is an award-winning writer who has published nine books, three of them bestsellers. He has been involved in sports writing for more than 35 years and has interviewed many superstar athletes. He lives in Mississauga, Ontario, Canada and enjoys watching golf and playing it.

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