Jason Dufner dominating at Memorial with five-shot lead

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AUGUSTA, Ga. – One relies on algorithms. The other, athleticism. Two different roads sharing the same destination: the top of the leaderboard at Augusta National. Brooks Koepka and Bryson DeChambeau are tied for first at Augusta National after an eventful end to the opening round. They played in two of the day’s final three groups, signing their scorecards 11 hours after Gary Player and Jack Nicklaus kicked off the proceedings. It was worth the wait, as both decimated Augusta National’s second nine with 5-under 31s to close a sun-soaked and low-scoring day.  The late-afternoon air density was just right for DeChambeau, who birdied the last four holes, including approach shots to within inches on 16 and 18. His final approach banged into the flagstick for just the fourth birdie of the day on Augusta National’s difficult closing hole. “Too fast. My terminal velocity was too high,â€� DeChambeau said about that final approach. Koepka has no need for polysyllabic words and terminology pulled from a physics textbook. He likes to keep it simple. “I just don’t understand how it takes a minute and 20 seconds … to hit a golf ball,â€� Koepka said recently on the Golf Monthly podcast. “It’s not that hard.â€� He made it look easy Thursday as he established himself as Augusta National’s alpha male. His 66 was the day’s only bogey-free round. Five of his birdies came on the second nine, including four in a row on 12-15. Koepka is seeking his third major in his last four starts. We haven’t seen a run like that since Tiger Woods was in his prime. Related: Tiger cards 2-under 70 | Day receives back treatment | Notebook: Scott off to rare fast start | Tiger accepts Ben Hogan Award | Nicklaus, Player get things started at the Masters | Tee times, Round 2 DeChambeau, who closed 2018 with three wins in his last five PGA TOUR starts, is seeking his first major, at a golf course that he has a deep affection for. It started when he arrived here three years ago as the reigning U.S. Amateur champion. He was in contention through 35 holes and won low-amateur honors in his final start before turning pro. He hasn’t finished better than 15th in a major. Thursday’s round was the fruit of the thorough testing that is his trademark. He spent 14 hours last Wednesday trying to solve his iron-play struggles. This time, he was analyzing his “spin loft.â€� “We didn’t understand how to get it back on the correct side,â€� he said. DeChambeau looks at an endless array of variables when assessing a shot. And he admits that he can be obsessive in the quest for an answer. Koepka scoffs at such analysis. “It’s always between two clubs,â€� he said in that same Golf Monthly interview. “There’s a miss short. There’s a miss long.â€� There was room for both approaches to work Thursday. It was hard not to get on a roll as roars reverberated across Augusta National. At times, it sounded like Masters Sunday. The cheers carried home the final players on the course, several of whom shot the day’s lowest scores. The five players who shot lower than 69 all played in the day’s final half-dozen groups. Phil Mickelson, playing behind DeChambeau, birdied five of his last seven holes to shoot 67. He’s trying to join Tiger, Arnie and Jack as the only players with four or more green jackets. Dustin Johnson shot 68 while playing alongside DeChambeau. Ian Poulter also shot 68. “There is an energy and there is something in science that does talk about that and more and more science is coming out about that,â€� DeChambeau said. “It’s great to have momentum and hear a great atmosphere. It gets you all pumped up, creates some adrenaline flow and allows you to get in a different mind‑set.â€� Koepka came home in the anchor group. He didn’t finish better than 56th in three starts preceding the Masters, but a smoother transition resulted in what he called his best ball-striking round in a major. He missed just three greens and two fairways. That performance provided an answer to those who’ve been critical of Koepka’s recent weight loss. A restricted diet caused him to lose more than 20 pounds. “I lift too many weights, and I’m too big to play golf. And then when I lose weight, I’m too small,â€� Koepka said. “I don’t know what to say. I’m too big and I’m too small.â€� Then he looked at a scoreboard inside the interview room. “Obviously it seems to work,â€� he said. Yes it does.

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Typically, a career year for any professional athlete isn’t identifiable until there’s agreement that the glory days have passed. For the best talent at any time, evidence suggesting future greater achievement is filed regularly, so it’s a fool’s errand to argue that a career year already has been cemented. Yet, there are exceptions. RELATED: Play Pick ‘Em Live | The First Look In professional golf, winning a major constitutes candidacy for a career year, but Hideki Matsuyama is only 30 years old, so classifying his career year as 2021 when he became Japan’s first male major champion at the Masters, could be rushing to judgment despite the historic accomplishment. However, the year also included his participation in the Olympics in his native Japan where he was edged for a medal, and it ended with victory at the ZOZO CHAMPIONSHIP, also in his homeland. It was a lot, and it was great. The moral of the matter is that it would be unfair to expect any golfer to convert on a combination of those successes when the stars align like that. So, while it may prove not to be Matsuyama’s career year in the context of an overall body of work, it likely will be the most special year of his career personally, so it demands this moment to appreciate it because he defends the last of those highlights at Accordia Golf Narashino Country Club in Chiba this week. POWER RANKINGS: ZOZO CHAMPIONSHIP Corey Conners, Cam Davis and Shriners co-runner-up Matthew NeSmith will be among the notables reviewed in Draws and Fades. The ZOZO CHAMPIONSHIP opens a fortnight reserved for 78-man invitationals. THE CJ CUP in South Carolina is on deck. Both are rewards to the top 60 in the previous season’s FedExCup standings and neither has a cut. (Each field reserves space for the top 60 eligible among those who qualified for the Playoffs.) The event’s location in Japan is a giveaway that the ZOZO CHAMPIONSHIP is conducted in conjunction with the Japan Golf Tour, although it’s not an official event for the latter. Fifteen JGTO members are in the field, the majority of whom can be found at the top of their money list. Another is Keita Nakajima, who is making just his third start as a professional after an extended stretch atop the World Amateur Golf Ranking. Narashino is a par 70 with five par 3s and three par 5s. The nines are respective pars of 34 and 36. After debuting in 2019 with a scoring average of about one-half stroke under par, it returned in 2021 standing taller at 70.484. (Because of the pandemic, the 2020 edition was held at Sherwood Country Club in California.) After Matsuyama grabbed outright possession of the 36-hole lead, he sprinted through the finish line and posted 15-under 265 to win by five. The composite routing of the King and Queen Courses is 38 yards longer this year at 7,079 yards. The extensions occurred at the par-3 fifth that now can play as long as 205 yards after an increase of 14 yards, and at the par-4 10th that’s an even 400 yards with 24 yards of added length. Thursday’s opening round almost certainly will be a wet one, but dry conditions are expected for most of the remainder. Wind won’t trouble much and daytime temperatures will climb into the mid-70s, eventually, so scoring projects not to be harder than it was a year ago, but asking for another field average that’s a red number might be aggressive. Weather permitting, bentgrass greens are poised to crank at 12½ feet on the Stimpmeter. The first two editions were prepped for 11½ and 12 feet, respectively. Members of the JGTO typically aren’t tested as often on this kind of pace. Also, because the tournament is scheduled a couple of weeks earlier than its first two spins in Japan, the thickest of the 3½-inch rough figures to be lusher than how returning entrants remember it. Course management is the priority, but now that there’s experience on the greens, ball-strikers aren’t benefited as much as they are on a new track. They’re going to need to roll in some putts, too. Matsuyama wasn’t going to be denied, so citing the fact that he led the field in greens in regulation and ranked second in scrambling presents and unrealistic benchmark for all. (ShotLink isn’t utilized at Narashino.) Speaking of hitting greens, the layout at Narashino serves as living history of golf in Japan. Each of the 18 holes has two greens. It was designed that way to extend playability across seasons of the year. The local rule is that when a golfer lands on the wrong green, he is allowed a free drop off the shortest of grass and no nearer the hole. For deeper detail on the possibilities this week, read this. Last year’s ZOZO CHAMPIONSHIP began at 8:30 a.m. local time on Thursday. Chiba is 13 hours ahead of Eastern Time in the United States, so it teed off at 7:30 p.m. EDT on Wednesday. Consider this adjustment for how you monitor the action. ROB BOLTON’S SCHEDULE PGATOUR.com’s Rob Bolton recaps and previews every tournament from numerous perspectives. Look for his following contributions as scheduled. MONDAY: Power Rankings TUESDAY*: Sleepers, Draws & Fades WEDNESDAY: Pick ‘Em Preview FRIDAY: Medical Extensions, Reshuffle SUNDAY: Qualifiers * – Rob is a member of the panel for PGATOUR.COM’s Expert Picks for PGA TOUR Fantasy Golf, which also publishes on Tuesday.

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