Gary Woodland tees off on the second hole during a practice round for the Masters golf tournament Tuesday, Nov. 10, 2020, in Augusta, Ga. (AP Photo/David J. Phillip)
Former University of Kansas golf standout Gary Woodland shot an even-par 72 on Thursday during the opening round of the Masters golf tournament in Augusta, Ga.
Woodland, who started his round on the par-4 10th hole, opened with a par at 10 and a bogey at No. 11. He recovered quickly, with birdies at No. 15 and No. 18, to move to 1-under par at the turn.
But Woodland’s second nine — Augusta’s front — featured three bogeys in a four-hole stretch and left him 1-over for the nine and even for the day.
That score left Woodland in the middle of the pack midway through the completion of Thursday’s weather-delayed rounds.
Paul Casey’s 7-under 65 sat at the top of the leaderboard as of 5 p.m., while Webb Simpson, Xander Schauffele and Justin Thomas were two strokes back.
Roughly half of the field was still on the course at that time.
After the four at the top, a group of eight golfers came in at 4-under for the day, including defending champion Tiger Woods, whose 68 on Thursday marked the best opening-round Masters score of his illustrious career.
Woodland is set to tee off in Round 2 at 11:11 a.m. central time on Friday.
A native of Colorado, Matt moved to Lawrence in 1988 and has been in town ever since. He graduated from Lawrence High in 1996 and the University of Kansas in 2000 with a degree in Journalism. After covering KU sports for the University Daily Kansan and Rivals.com, Matt joined the World Company (and later Ogden Publications) in 2001 and has held several positions with the paper and KUsports.com in the past 20+ years. He became the Journal-World Sports Editor in 2018. Throughout his career, Matt has won several local and national awards from both the Associated Press Sports Editors and the Kansas Press Association. In 2021, he was named the Kansas Sportswriter of the Year by the National Sports Media Association. Matt lives in Lawrence with his wife, Allison, and two daughters, Kate and Molly. When he's not covering KU sports, he likes to spend his time playing basketball and golf, listening to and writing music and traveling the world with friends and family.
