Round 1 of the 2015 Masters is officially underway in Augusta, GA, as the PGA Tour's top stars gather for the first major tournament of the season. Bubba Watson is set to defend last year's victory, but it will be no easy task with Tiger Woods back from his hiatus and Jordan Spieth eager to get revenge.
Charley Hoffman and Brian Harman kicked off the event and teed off at 7:45 a.m. ET on Thursday and a number of others followed, including 2014 Ryder Cup captain Tom Watson, Patrick Reed, Ian Poulter, Keegan Bradley, Lee Westwood, Miguel Jimenez, Justin Rose and reigning champ Bubba Watson.
Watson won the 2014 event with a cumulative score of 8-under, which bested second place finishers Jordan Spieth and Jonas Blixt by three strokes. Jimenez finished in fourth place, followed by Rickie Fowler and Matt Kuchar (fifth), Lee Westood (seventh) and Rory McIlroy and Jimmy Walker (eighth).
Woods missed out on the action last year as he was recovering from back surgery he underwent in March, but he'll return this year following a two-month hiatus as he vowed to improve his game after two poor showings at the Waste Management Phoenix Open and the Farmers Insurance Open. The 14-time major winner missed the cut at the first event after shooting a career-worst 82 in the second round and withdrew from the next event because of back issues.
Dustin Johnson will also play in his first major tournament since his six-month break from the PGA Tour, which was said to have been a suspension for failing a drug test. However, the tour noted it was a leave of absence and Johnson acknowledged he was working on improving himself because he was drinking too much. The 30-year-old has participated in five tournaments this year and already won the WGC-Cadillac Championship, while also logging a top-five finish at the AT&T Pebble Beach National Pro-AM.
But let's not forget about the No. 1 and No. 4 golfers in the world, Rory McIlroy and Jordan Spieth. McIlroy needs a Masters victory to notch the career grand slam while Spieth has a sour taste in his mouth after dropping three strokes on the final day of the event last year to relinquish first place to Watson. This will be McIlroy's seventh appearance at the Masters, with his best finish coming last year (eighth place). He missed the cut in 2010 and shot an 80 in the final round back in 2011, which blew his four-shot lead and led to a 15th place finish. On the other hand, Spieth carries momentum into this year's event having shot par or better in his last 13 rounds.
Let's get to the action. Here are the tee times for Round 1:
Tee Time | Players | ||
7:45 a.m. | Charley Hoffman | Brian Harman | |
7:56 a.m. | Larry Mize | Danny Willett | Byron Meth |
8:07 a.m. | Tom Watson | Gary Woodand | Camilo Villegas |
8:18 a.m. | Mike Weir | Ben Crane | Corey Conners |
8:29 a.m. | Vijay Singh | Russell Henley | Darren Clarke |
8:40 a.m. | Jose Maria Olazabal | Brendon Todd | Kevin Na |
8:51 a.m. | Jonas Blixt | Kevin Streelman | Stephen Gallacher |
9:02 a.m. | Patrick Reed | Keegan Bradley | Ian Poulter |
9:13 a.m. | Miguel Angel Jimenez | Lee Westwood | Anirban Lahiri |
9:24 a.m. | Bubba Watson | Justin Rose | Gunn Yang |
9:35 a.m. | Adam Scott | Dustin Johnson | Antonio Murdaca |
9:57 a.m. | Morgan Hoffmann | Steve Stricker | Matt Every |
10:08 a.m. | Ben Crenshaw | Bill Haas | Jason Dufner |
10:19 a.m. | Webb Simpson | Hideki Matsuyama | Paul Casey |
10:30 a.m. | Charl Schwartzel | Joost Luiten | Sangmoon Bae |
10:41 a.m. | Phil Mickelson | Rory McIlroy | Ryan Moore |
10:52 a.m. | J.B. Holmes | Martin Kaymer | Brandt Snedeker |
11:03 a.m. | Ian Woosnam | Erik Compton | Marc Leishman |
11:14 a.m. | Trevor Immelman | Kevin Stadler | Scott Harvey |
11:25 a.m. | Ben Martin | Robert Streb | Cameron Tringale |
11:36 a.m. | Sandy Lyle | Seung-yul Noh | Bradley Neil |
11:47 a.m. | Bernhard Langer | Bernd Weisberger | Geoff Ogilvy |
12:09 p.m. | Zach Johnson | Jim Furyk | Ernie Els |
12:20 p.m. | Angel Cabrera | Louis Oosthuizen | Matias Dominguez |
12:31 p.m. | Mark O'Meara | Chris Kirk | Shane Lowry |
12:42 p.m. | Padraig Harrington | Ryan Palmer | Thomas Bjorn |
12:53 p.m. | James Hahn | Mikko Illonen | Hunter Mahan |
1:04 p.m. | Matt Kuchar | Brooks Koepka | Graeme McDowell |
1:15 p.m. | Jordan Spieth | Henrik Stenson | Billy Horschel |
1:26 p.m. | Fred Couples | Branden Grace | Thongchai Jaidee |
1:37 p.m. | Luke Donald | Victor Dubuisson | John Senden |
1:48 p.m. | Tiger Woods | Jamie Donaldson | Jimmy Walker |
1:59 p.m. | Jason Day | Sergio Garcia | Rickie Fowler |
Check out the live stream for Round 1 of the 2015 Masters here as well as the live radio broadcast here.
