Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano gets on leaderboard in second Masters

Forget about seeing his name on the leaderboard. Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano just wanted to see par.

A year after carding nothing better than 74 in four rounds in his first Masters Tournament, Fernandez-Castano shot 4-under 68 Thursday to sit two shots back of the lead and get his name on the leaderboard.

“I truly enjoyed finally breaking par here at Augusta National,” Fernandez-Castano said. “Even though this is my second Masters, last year I didn’t get to break par in any of the four rounds I played. So that’s a very positive thing and a great start of this year’s Masters.”

Fernandez-Castano did most of his damage on the par-5s. Before the tournament, he noticed Tiger Woods’ prowess on such holes. On par-3s and par-4s, Woods was 26-over and 29-over, respectively; on the par-5s, Woods was 134-under.

On Thursday, Fernandez-Castano followed the formula, getting birdies on all four par-5s. He picked up two other birdies the rest of the round and was 5-under before bogeying No. 18.

“Probably the key factor when you play Augusta National is going low on par-5s, and that’s exactly what I did,” Fernandez-Castano said. “I played the par-5s really good, and especially 13 and 15, I gave myself good eagle chances that unfortunately I didn’t convert.

The 32-year-old is gunning to be the first European to win a green jacket since Jose Maria Olazabal did so in 1999, which was the fourth time a Spaniard won the green jacket.

Spain is in good shape after Thursday’s opening round. Two of its own are in the top 10: Fernandez-Castano is tied for fourth and Sergio Garcia is tied for first.

“It’s important for Spanish golf to get a major, because as you know, there’s less and less players now, and we need to motivate the younger generation to take up the game,” Fernandez-Castano said.

“Unfortunately it’s been awhile now, and I think we’ve always had the talent with players like Olazabal, Seve (Ballesteros), (Miguel Angel) Jimenez, Sergio, but we still have to finish the job. So, hopefully, this is the one.”