Brooks Koepka, Bryson DeChambeau close strong to share Masters lead

Four-time Masters champion Tiger Woods stalked early. Jon Rahm fussed and fumed his way to a share of the lead. Adam Scott, the 2013 champion, made a late rush to the top.

They were all passed Thursday on what might be the last sunny afternoon of the week at Augusta National Golf Club by an all-star cast of competitors among the final three threesomes, who rained one spectacular shot after another into the greens and poured just as many clutch putts into the holes.

When the last slivers of sunlight faded, Brooks Koepka -- who has won two of the last three major championships and three of the last six -- made a strong opening bid for adding a Masters title.

Photos: 2019 Masters Round 1

Koepka birdied four holes in a row from Nos. 12 to 15 and tied Bryson DeChambeau for first place at 6-under par.

DeChambeau, an analytical four-time PGA Tour winner with a strong sense of golf history, nearly holed out at Nos. 16 and 18 and chipped in for birdie at No. 17.

Three-time Masters champion Phil Mickelson birdied three of his last four holes, including an 8-footer at No. 18, and is alone in third with a 67. Dustin Johnson drained a 30-foot putt at No. 11 on his way to a 68, tying Ian Poulter for fourth.

Scott and Rahm wound up dipping from a tie for first to a tie for sixth at 3-under 69 with Kevin Kisner, Kiradech Aphibarnrat and first-time Masters player Justin Harding of South Africa.

Woods shot 70 in the first round of the Masters for the sixth time in his career. On three of those occasions, he won.

Woods, trying to win a fifth green jacket 14 years after his fourth, was 1-under through 12 holes and then energized the patrons on the second nine with birdies at Nos. 13 and 14 to get a share of the lead.

His curling 25-foot birdie putt at the 14th sent a shock wave through the course with the realization that Woods had a piece of the lead.

But he didn’t sustain the momentum, making a tepid par at No. 15 after hitting his second shot over the green and failing to get his third shot onto the putting surface.

He said the ball was on a root and had to guard against pitching the ball into the water with a bladed shot.

“Probably the hardest shot I had all day,” Woods said.

He bogeyed the 17th after hitting his tee shot into the trees on the right and missing a 9-foot par attempt but made a good par at No. 18 from the fairway bunker. 

“I feel very good,” Woods said. “I feel like I played well today and controlled my golf ball all day.”

Several pre-tournament favorites had difficult days and will have an even more difficult time making up ground if weather forecasts calling for rain the next three days hold true.

Rory McIlroy may have to wait another year before completing the career grand slam as he posted a 73. He missed half the 14 fairways and needed 32 putts on a day in which he bogeyed the first two and the last two holes of the second nine, with three birdies in between.

“The course was there,” McIlroy lamented about not taking advantage of what are likely to be the best conditions of the week. “It’s soft. There’s not much wind. I made five birdies. That wasn’t the problem. I just made too many mistakes.”

World No. 1-ranked Justin Rose, who lost to Sergio Garcia in a playoff in the 2017 Masters, bogeyed the last three holes on the first nine for a 40 and finished with a 75. He hit only five fairways.

Defending champion Patrick Reed hit only eight fairways and eight greens and shot 73.

And while no one was projecting 2015 champion Jordan Spieth among the pre-tournament favorites, he continued to struggle with a 40 going out on his way to a 75 that matched his highest score at Augusta.

Spieth has not finished higher than a tie for 35th in a stroke-play event on the PGA Tour this season.