Masters 2024: Round 1 Winners and Losers at Augusta National

Of the 89 players in the field for this year’s Masters Tournament, only 62 made it through the opening round. That’s because severe storms pounded Augusta National late Wednesday into Thursday.

Tee time was then postponed and windy conditions continued even after the rain stopped. Winds were up to 20 mph with gusts up to 30 in all directions.

This left the players feeling flustered, especially as the day progressed. Tiger Woods would call these the trickiest conditions he’s ever encountered at Augusta National.

Even though there are still 27 players left to finish the first round, we felt it was prudent to take a look at the winners and losers from Day 1 of the Masters.

Masters Day 1 Winner

Scotty Scheffler

Scottie Scheffler was definitely Thursday’s biggest winner.

Not only did he shoot an impressive 6-under 66, he did it without another bogey. It’s been a common theme among the world’s No. 1 players lately. That’s very strange.

Scheffler hit the ball incredibly well, hitting all but two fairways. Plus, the big Texan once again circled the field from tee to green.

In that respect he gained 6.42 strokes on the field. He gained 0.62 strokes over the field and finished with a plus putt. If the situation improves over the next three days, the tournament is likely to be almost over.

He will enter Friday one stroke behind Bryson DeChambeau in the lead.

liv golf

Rivals on the Saudi-funded PGA Tour also emerged as big winners after the first round.

Bryson DeChambeau is in the lead with a 7-under 65. He jumped to the front and would have held a commanding lead if not for Scheffler.

However, there are three other members of LIV who are currently in the top 10 at Augusta National.

LIV’s recent acquisition Tyrrell Hutton is 3 under when play resumes on Friday and will take on the par-5 15th. Joaquin Niemann, who may not be named Scheffler but is perhaps the most talked-about player in the world, continued his breakout streak with a 2-under 70.

Tying him is Patrick Reed. The former Masters champion quietly played great despite the lack of coverage.

Cameron Smith, Sergio Garcia and Brooks Koepka are also at even par or better.

It was a really strong start for LIV Golf.

tiger woods

The aforementioned Woods rounds out the list of opening day winners.

You could easily argue that he belongs on the other side of this list. After all, he ended up having to play his 23 holes on Friday. It’s not easy.

But I believe the good outweighed the bad.

It’s hard to argue there’s pressure on a 48-year-old coming back from injury and illness, but there certainly is pressure on Woods.

For one, he’s aiming to break a tie with Fred Couples and Gary Player for the most consecutive cuts in Masters history with 24.

But Tiger isn’t playing to make cuts. he’s playing to win. Woods said so earlier this week, insisting he has one more.

Despite playing in strong winds, Tiger was 1 under after 13 holes. He peels the ball off the tee and appears to be moving around just fine. Even in his prime, he typically played sparingly on Thursdays.

But before competing this weekend, Woods needs to show he can play consistently well. Thursday was the first indicator that he might be able to do that.

Masters Day 1 Loser

nick taylor

Canadian Nick Taylor highlights the list of losers from day one. He ended his career in 2023, breaking the Canadian Open curse and becoming the first local player in 69 years to win a local tournament.

But Thursday was pretty eventful.

Rob Schumacher-USA TODAY Sports

Taylor showed ups and downs on the front nine, then made five bogeys on the back including the last three holes. He will enter the second round at 5-over par, but will need a very strong round in Friday’s rough winds to advance.

For someone who many thought had the potential to be a dark horse, this was far from the expected performance.

Hideki Matsuyama

Japanese star Hideki Matsuyama participated in the Masters and played brilliantly.

He won the Genesis Invitational last month. He then finished T12, T6, and T7 at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, Players Championship, and Valero Texas Open, respectively.

It was thought that the former Masters champion could compete. He shot a 4-over 76 on Thursday, but that doesn’t seem to be the case.

Rickie Fowler

Unfortunately, this was not the tournament where Rickie Fowler would break through with a 4-over 76 and win his first major championship. He accomplished that during an easy period of play on Thursday as well.

It’s even harder to argue that he fell victim to the Masters’ par-3 curse. He won the prestigious event on Wednesday, and we all know that no player who won on Wednesday went on to win on Sunday.

However, Fowler’s game fell apart in 2024.

After a resurgent 2023 in which he broke a drought and won the Travelers Championship, Fowler has missed three of nine cuts this year. His best result among the other six cars was a tie for 35th in the Genesis.

All signs point to Fowler leaving Augusta early again.

Kendall Capps is the senior editor of SB Nation’s Playing Through.For more golf coverage, follow us @_PlayingThrough On all major social media platforms.