Pair Tied for Lead at Masters

Four-time Champion Tiger Woods is another shot back at 72.

Trevor Immelman (pictured) and Justin Rose are tied for the lead after day one at the Masters.

AUGUSTA, Ga - Justin Rose and Trevor Immelman are close friends off the golf course.

In Thursday's opening round of the Masters, they were as close as golfers can get at Augusta National Golf Club.

Rose and Immelman matched four-under-par 68s to share the lead. They are one stroke ahead of three golfers: Americans Brian Bateman and Brandt Snedeker and England's Lee Westwood.

Ian Poulter, another Englishman, hit a shot heard 'round Augusta National. He used an 8-iron from 169 yards to make a hole-in-one at the 16th hole.

Poulter shot 70 and is tied for sixth in a group with defending Champion Zach Johnson, Jim Furyk, Robert Karlsson and Stephen Ames

Phil Mickelson, the winner in 2004 and 2006, is in a large group at 71. Four-time Champion Tiger Woods is another shot back at 72.

It is a congested leaderboard with many of the world's finest golfers poised to contend this weekend.

The first round started an hour late due to fog. Arnold Palmer hit the ceremonial first shot at 7:50 a.m., as scheduled, but the first group of Ben Curtis, Shaun Micheel and Heath Slocum didn't tee off until 9 a.m., an hour later than scheduled.

Rose has now been the first-round leader in the Masters three times in the last five years. He also led in 2004 and again last year.

Rose is having another fine season. He won the European Tour's Order of Merit (money list) last year and he believes those experiences at Augusta National have made him a more complete golfer.

"When you open up like that in the first round of a tournament, you just have to remind yourself how far there is to go and that kind of patience paid off for me," Rose said.

"I've gone out there today with a really relaxed frame of mind and that's what I've got to recreate the rest of the week."

Rose rebounded after bogeys at the first and fourth holes with four straight birdies beginning at the sixth to make the turn in 34. He added birdies at the 12th and 13th holes.

Rose, Immelman and Poulter made a trip to Augusta National a couple of weeks ago for two days of practice.

It was, Immelman said, a valuable experience.

"We live a couple of yards away from each other (in Orlando, FL) and opportunity presented itself to come up here," Immelman said. "We came up for two days. Any time you play this course, you learn something new, and so that time was well spent. It was a great experience for us."

Immelman was on the third green when Poulter made his ace on the 16th.

"It was just a massive roar," Immelman said. "My caddie and I had a good chuckle when we saw that it was him who holed it."

"Justin doesn't surprise me at all. He's been playing some fantastic golf for a long time now."

Poulter said he knew the shot "was going to be pretty good" when he made contact with the ball.

"I flushed it," he said. "Unbelievable buzz. There's an instant adrenaline rush. That's probably the biggest adrenaline rush I've had. It was a great buzz."

Woods' round featured a chip-in for eagle at the 15th hole after successive bogeys at the 13th and 14th. Until then, he had made 12 straight pars.

"I kept myself in the tournament," Woods said. "I'm right there."

Woods said the chip-in eagle "was a pretty easy little pitch. It was straight uphill. The ball was sitting up. It was pretty soft underneath there and just had to carry it far enough, and it went in."

Johnson matched his enormous anticipation of playing his first round as Masters champion with a solid performance.

"I couldn't wait for Thursday," he said. "I was ready to go. It was just one of those things I couldn't wait to get started. It's good to know I still have some feelings, and good ones at that."

Johnson birdied the 12th and 13th holes to reach three-under before a bogey at the 17th left him at 70. At the 12th, he hit his tee shot to within 12 inches of the cup. At the 13th, he rolled in a 13-foot putt for birdie. As he did last year, Johnson played the par 5 holes in three shots.

Courtesy: masters.org

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