Hey Everyone,

What a day at Augusta National! This weekend is going to rock.

I spent Thursday morning at Winchester CC talking to Jim Salinetti about the course as they gets ready to host the 2026 Massachusetts Amateur in July. Salinetti would know a thing or two about the tournament; he won it three times (1997, 1999, 2000). It’s the first time in 24 years that they’ve hosted the event. Looking forward to highlighting the course in the coming months.

Okay, let’s get to some of my thoughts after the first round of the Masters. But first, we have some news and notes (and some victories!).

Masters: Keegan Bradley bounced back from a 40 on the first (not front!) nine and ripped off four straight birdies on holes Nos. 13-16 for a second nine 32. A 72 has him T17.

Minor League Golf Tour: Chris Francoeur finished T5 in the Palm Beach County Open. Results

Golfweek/Stifel Spring Challenge: UConn won at True Blue GC in South Carolina by two shots over UAB. Matt Costello (Taunton, Mass.) competed as an individual for the Huskies and finished 44th. Sacred Heart finished T12.

Mason Rudolph Championship: Ryan Downes (Longmeadow, Mass.) helped Vanderbilt finish second behind Auburn. Downes finished in 5th place, eight shots behind the winner, Jackson Koivun, who won his ninth college event and is the top ranked amateur in the world. John Broderick (Wellesley, Mass.) played for the Vanderbilt second team in the home event and finished T40. Joey Lenane (Dedham, Mass.) finished T25 competing for NC State, and Trevor Drew (Tyngsboro, Mass.) finished in 72nd for Western Kentucky. Scoring

Augusta Haskins Award Invitational: Max McColgan (Lincoln, Mass.) of St. John’s University finished 76th. Scoring

Wildcat Spring Invitational: University of Rhode Island finished in fifth place. Tyler Bruneau (Concord, Mass.) helped the cause for the Rams with a 15th-place finish. Aidan O’Donovan (Somerville, Mass.) finished 34th. Georgetown freshman Carson Erick (Hingham, Mass.) won his first college tournament with rounds of 73-74-69. CJ Winchenbaugh (Weston, Mass.) and Alan Rose III (Weston, Mass.) finished 8th and 24th, respectively. The Hoyas finished runner-up to Villanova by two shots. Scoring

ECU Ironwood Invitational Boston University finished 13th. Xavier sophomore Isabel Brozena (N. Reading, Mass.) finished 6th place, helping her team notch a fourth place finish. East Carolina won the tournament. - Scoring

Terps Invitational: Harvard finished 11th, and Yale took 14th. Lillian Gulleserian (Westwood, Mass.) finished 84th for Penn State. Scoring

St. John's Invitational: Five of the top six teams in this field came from New England - Fairfield (2nd), Quinnipiac (3rd), Bryant (4th), Merrimack (5th), and Holy Cross (6th). Providence finished 11th. Merrimack’s Mya Murphy (Bourne, Mass.) finished 39th and Erika Redmond (Concord, Mass.) was 46th. Oliva Arone (W. Newton, Mass.) finished 63rd for Providence. Fairfield’s Katelynn Waclawski won the individual event and St. John’s was the team champion. Scoring

Golfweek/Stifel Spring Challenge: Stonehill finished 19th as Middle Tennessee took home the title. Scoring

Seagulls Four-Ball: A staple on Cape Cod, Hyannisport Club hosts the Seagulls Four-Ball every April. The field will play qualifying rounds on Saturday to set seeding for match play. The tournament takes place over two weekends, and the weather usually makes an appearance! Kevin Blaser and Ricky Stimets won the championship fight last year. Live Scoring

U.S. Challenge Cup Match Play: Tee Times and Matches for this weekend

Scott Robertson Qualifier: Grey Gagnon (Portsmouth, NH) shot 72 (+1) and beat Wes Paine (Longmeadow, Mass.) for medalist honors. Results

Northeast Junior Ryder Cup: Josiah Hakala (New Ipswich, NH.) shot 72 (+1) at Ledgemont CC to beat Wes Paine (Longmeadow, Mass.) by a shot. An interesting weekend for Paine, with two runner-up finishes. Results

I wrote a digital book. It has 168 course reviews across Massachusetts. If you purchase it now, you receive a free updated version every year with new reviews and photos. Annual paid subscribers receive the book for free.

This is the Rory McIlroy a lot of people expected to see last May, June, and July after winning the career grand slam. Instead, he was surly and grumpy, skipping media and playing joyless golf.

It seems it took a return to Augusta National to unlock the confident, loose McIlroy.

It didn’t start great for him, but he settled into the round.

“But I would say that I didn't hit the ball very well the first seven holes, and sometimes here that would lead me to get tentative and a little guidy,” he said. “And I kept swinging, just trusting that I'm going to find it eventually. So maybe that was a little bit different.”

Rory still felt nervous and offered this gem of a comment, which should make everyone everywhere feel good about nerves on the first tee.

“So it was nice to feel my hand shaking a little bit when the tee went into the ground and struggle to put the ball on top of the tee. So I knew I was feeling it. That's a good thing. That's why we want to be here. We want to be able to try to play our best golf when we're feeling like that.”

Have to ask the question… if Rory wins in 2011, does he have 14 green jackets now?

“I said this when I came in on Tuesday. I think winning a Masters makes it easier to win your second one.”

He’s put himself in a position to prove himself right.

Is it gOoD fOr GoLf when Bryson DeChambeau (76) and Jon Rahm (78) eject themselves on Thursday at The Masters?

Bryson is busy printing his own clubs (and cutting grooves!).

Rahm is the real embarrassment though. He beat 15 players today and didn’t look ready from the very start of the round. Most importantly, he lost to three amateurs, Mason Howell (77), Jackson Herrington (76), Ethan Fang (74), and 60-year-old Jose Maria Olazabal (74).

Both guys were bad, and no one from LIV Golf shot under par in the opening round. Sergio Garcia shot 72, Dustin Johnson both shot 73, and Tyrrell Hatton shot 74.

If we’re going to crush some LIV guys, we have to talk about Aberg and MacIntyre. Aberg walked off the sixth green 3-under par and ended the day with a 74. Doubles on holes 9 and 13 were the main culprits.

From DataGolf:

MacIntyre is the 8th-ranked player in the world and shot 80 today, including a 9 on the 15th hole. 15 had quite a body count today. Freddie Couples also made a 9 on the par 5.

This is the best way to watch the Masters, in my opinion. I popped on the Rory McIlroy, Cam Young, Mason Howell and Xander Schauffele, Alex Fitzpatrick, and Bryson DeChambeau feed. Got to see almost every shot those guys hit, and they jumped over to some other groups, too.

It’s so valuable to watch the ebbs and flows of a round on any course, but especially at Augusta. Bryson was even par through 10, white-knuckling the entire front nine; he made a triple bogey on the 11th when he got stuck in a bunker.

They also play old This is SportsCenter golf commercials, which is a treat, and I enjoyed Shane Bacon and Johnson Wagner on the call.

Also, open up the DataGolf Live Blog for a nice companion to give some context to what you’re watching.

I admit, I have a sick obsession with the bottom of leaderboards. I have been on my fair share of them in my day.

I’d encourage you all to watch Aldrich Potgieter’s round. He was all over the place, and his chip shot on 1 likely didn’t settle the nerves. Relatable stuff.

One of Potgieter’s playing partners was 2-time Masters champion Jose Maria Olazabal. He’s 60 and shot 74 today, beating Potgieter by ten shots.

An important question here… I’m going into the dinner planning on one beer and a glass of wine with dinner, but I’ll crack and end up with a glass of bourbon in my hand on the deck in a rocking chair before heading home. Hopefully with Ian Woosman and NOT Gary Player.

Masters merch… so hot right now. This is more insane when you consider that the prices are rather reasonable.

Just remember to practice your short game this weekend…

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