Bhatia lies seventh as does Rai at Masters; Rose blooms and takes leads

Akshay Bhatia. 

Khel Today Bureau

Augusta: Akshay Bhatia and Aaron Rai, two of the three Indian-origin at the 89th Masters were on the front page of the leaderboard at the end of opening day, which had a lot of big names led by Justin Rose, who shot a 7-under 65.

Bhatia, who with Sahith Theegala, signed up Hero as their new sponsor at the start of the week, and debutant Rai had put themselves in a good place to make the cut after a decent first day. Bhatia and Rai carded 2-under 70 and were T-7th and Theegala shot even par 72 to be -27 as the leader board had a bunch of big names. The top 50 and ties make the cut.

Twice runner-up at the Masters, the 44-year-old, Rose, a former US Open winner, playing his 20th Masters equalled his best start at the Masters with a 65. The round was bogey free till he dropped shot at the 18th which pulled him back from 8-under to 7-under, that was a brilliant display of putting with just 22 putts.

World No. 1 and defending champion, Scottie Scheffler (68) was tied second alongside last year’s runners-up Ludvig Aberg and Corey Conners, all at 4-under.

Right behind them at 3-under was two-time US Open champion, Bryson DeChambeau, who at 3-under with seven birdies and four bogeys, was T-5 with Tyrrell Hatton.

Rory McIlroy despite two double bogeys on the back nine shot 72 after being 4-under through 14 holes. He dropped doubles on the 15th and the 18th.

Bhatia and Rai were in a group of four at 2-under with the other two being former World No. 1 Jason Day and Harris English.

Rai, an Indo-British golfer, whose grandparents were born in India, actually led the field for a while at 4-under through the first 10 holes, before faltering with three straight bogeys around the Amen Corner on the 11th-12th-13th and another dropped shot on the 16th. Going down from 4-under to 1-under, he managed to make some ground with birdies on the 15th and 17th for a 2-under card.

Bhatia had a bit of a roller-coaster ride as he began well before four bogeys on the holes between the fifth and the 12th, saw him plummet to 2-over. Then came a purple patch that led to a great recovery. With five birdies against one bogey in the last six holes for a fine 2-under 70.

Theegala also put in a heroic effort on the back after he had starting problems with bogeys on the second and third. He had a start-stop kind of round with a birdie on fifth, bogey on seventh and a birdie on the eighth to be 1-over at the turn. On the back nine he picked shots on the 13th and he 15th but a double bogey on the Par-3 16th messed up the card. He stayed calm for a final birdie on the 17th for a 72.

Bhatia was smiling as he had an action-packed back nine. He said, “Yeah, got off to a great start and then just didn’t drive it as good as I have been, especially as I did at Sawgrass, at THE PLAYERS. The golf course is hard, and then you get some swirly winds. But it was fun.”

On playing with Rory McIlroy he was thrilled and added, “I stayed pretty focused. It’s really cool. As a kid, I grew up watching him. To kind of be in that group, I was a little surprised. But it was awesome. I really enjoyed it. Yeah, I just kind of stay in my own lane, and I know — it makes it feel a little bit more important, which is kind of nice.

On his back nine run, Bhatia commented, “I made a really great par on 11, three-putted 12, and then I knew if I could just get it back to even par for the day, it’s not the worst thing I could — continuing to look at the leader board; 13, hit a great shot; 14, great shot; 15, I wouldn’t have changed my decision going for it. It was a great number.

Then 16, I wasn’t even watching the ball, and all of a sudden it’s a foot away.

Then 17 and 18, just kind of bonuses, making those putts.”

Happy with his back nine, Theegala said, “It was good. Really been struggling with my irons, so I hit a lot of nice iron shots today. It took me a while to get the speed on the greens.

“But back nine was great. Really got the speed dialled. Really struggling with the draws with my irons. I tried to hit one on 16 and just missed it.”

He was pleased with the birdies on three of the par-5s. He said, “I had a good chance to go for it on 13 out of the pine straw, perfect number, perfect lie, but I just wanted to stay disciplined to that pin because if you hit it in the water, that up-and-down is so, so hard today.

It was a bonus definitely for that putt to drop, and then 15 I felt like I played the hole perfect. Those are some of the best par-5s in the world, if not the best par-5s in the world.”

Rai, despite coming down from 4-under to 2-under, was happy and commented, “Yeah, really good start overall. Without playing this course under competitive conditions before, it’s very difficult to figure out how the course is going to play in the flow of it.

On his start of 4-under through eight, he said, “Definitely beyond expectations. Played really nicely. Holed a couple of nice putts for birdie and a couple of nice putts to keep the round going early on.

I tried not to get too far ahead of myself, but I knew there were some difficult holes coming up, especially around the midsection of this round, around 12 and 13. Tried to stay as present as possible, and the course definitely called me out on that middle section today. Yeah, great start and great first round overall.