Rough finish mars Charles Howell's opening round at Masters

Charles Howell would have liked a better ending. Through 14 holes in Thursday’s first round, Howell was tied for fourth at 2-under par. Then he bogeyed Nos. 15, 17 and 18 to finish 1-over-par 73.

Prior to that rough finish, he was pleased with how had played in his ninth Masters Tournament.

“I played well. I didn’t finish the way I wanted to, obviously, but that can happen around here,” he said. “It was a nice day, got what we expected with the golf course and stuff, but yeah, I played nicely.”

2019 Masters Round 1 Photos

Thanks to heavy rain Monday and Tuesday, the course didn’t play as fast as most of the players would have liked.

Howell started the day with a bogey and parred the next six until No. 8, where he got his first birdie, a 5-foot putt. He got his second birdie of the day on No. 10.

After a 311-yard drive, his next shot left him two feet for birdie, drawing cheers from the gallery. The Augusta native tapped in to go 1-under par.

He birdied the 13th to go 2-under before bogeying three of the last four holes.

As to the difficulty of those final holes compared to the rest of the course, Howell said they’re all hard.

“Yeah, it’s a difficult golf course and every hole is on that fine line of two great shots can get you a birdie and if you’re off a little bit, it’s quite difficult to make pars,” he said.