Patrick Reed gets through opening jitters of title defense

A year wearing the green jacket. Check.

Champions Dinner served. Check.

First round over with. Sort of a check.

Patrick Reed, the 2018 Masters Tournament champion, completed the final item of his to-do list for the most eventful year of his career Thursday by playing his first competitive round at Augusta National since donning the green jacket last April.

2019 Masters Round 1 Photos

His up-and-down day, one in which he was surprised at his first tee nerves, ended in a 1-over-par 73.

“It was awesome today,” Reed said. “I was actually more nervous than I expected. There is nothing like coming back and defending. Obviously, the adrenaline was going because normally I hit 3-wood off the first tee to take that bunker out of play and to one-hop it in the bunker, obviously, the adrenaline was flowing.”

Reed said he woke up Thursday morning and, “I actually felt good. I felt good during warmups. Then I was on the first tee and I was good even then. Then all of the sudden about two minutes before they announced my name I was like, all right (I am nervous). Then I looked over and saw the sign and saw the one next to my name. I was like ‘OK, here we go.’ ”

Reed did par No. 1. However, he never found red numbers with one eagle, two birdies, five bogeys and 10 pars.

“Yeah, you know, that kind of how it was an up and down day,” said Reed. “I felt like the ball-striking was a little loose. I felt like all-in-all my putting and my short game was where it needed to be. But here even if you hit quality golf shots, if you miss by a foot one way or the other, you’re leaving yourself a very hard next shot.”

Reed’s highlight for the round arrived at the par-5 13th. He had 203 yards to the green on his second shot and landed his ball 16 feet from the cup, then made the putt getting to even par.

Reed’s final five holes were a microcosm of his day with a birdie, two pars and two bogeys.

“I just need to tighten things up a little on the full swing and I’ll be all right,” said Reed, who tees off in the second round at 1:16 p.m. with Webb Simpson and amateur Viktor Hovland.

What was all right for Reed earlier this week, according to past Master champions Fuzzy Zoeller and Nick Faldo, is the champions dinner Reed served Tuesday night.

“That steak was something special,” Zoeller said.

“It was quite a dinner,” Faldo said.

“I’m glad to hear that,” Reed said flashing a smile after finishing his much-awaited Thursday round.