It was a grand day at Augusta National with perfect scoring conditions and some stellar play from many players. Jordan Spieth leads by three shots and the leaderboard is jam packed with plenty of great players.
While some big names could have taken better advantage of the day none of them really played themselves out of the tournament. Here are the day one Winners & Losers at Augusta.
Winners
The Big 3: Arnie, Jack and Gary looked pretty spry for 85, 79 and 75 respectively. Gary won the day with the longest drive but Jack said it was because hit his off the toe. I wonder who gets those balls they leave out there. Some green jacket probably has them in his pocket.
Jordan Spieth: The wiz kid was tearing it up until all the analysts mentioned the course record then he bogeyed 15. Still, an eight 64 under is one major accomplishment at Augusta. He came as advertised: still the hottest golfer playing anywhere. He had an amazing round and acted like it was a walk in the park. 
Charley Hoffman who has only been in one other Masters (T27 2011) had the “unexpected round of the day.” Five under 67 has him T2 and primed for another good round on Friday.
Justin Rose came out of nowhere with his 67. He has three missed cuts in last five events. I’d say this was unexpected.
It looks like T2 is the slot for the unexpected rounds. Ernie Els has struggled all season but he looked like a kid out there. Remember Ernie does have two seconds at Augusta so he does know how to score out there.
Tom Watson is 65 and shoots -1, 71 today. He’s unreal. Wouldn’t it be something if he makes the cut (he hasn’t since 2011) and he and Phil Mickelson were paired together on the weekend. Awkward!
Tiger Woods didn’t light up Augusta but he hung in there. The strange thing is his short game was bailing his long game out. He was spraying those tee balls all over but still managed a 1 over 73.
How do they make Augusta National look better each year? That place is amazing.
Losers
Fred Couples finally shows his age and shoots an opening 79.
Miguel Angel Jimenez disappoints all of us here at Links Life Golf. Shooting 78 is not cool, especially for the Coolest Guy in Golf.
J.B. Holmes may still have a winner’s hangover and Martin Kaymer is still looking for that game to compete at Augusta. Both shot 76
Jimmy Walker has to be disappointed by his opening 71. While he isn’t out of it by any means, on a day with plenty of deep red numbers he missed a big chance here. It’s the curse of being paired with Woods.
It will be a tearful goodbye to Ben Crenshaw when he comes up 18 tomorrow. But I bet he shed some tears today. No one, especially Ben wants to have to deal with shooting a 91.
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