Masters 2012: Lee Westwood Leads After First Round
The weather we all expected came on strong late on Thursday afternoon at Augusta National and so did first round leader Lee Westwood. Paired with former Masters champion Vijay Singh and everyone’s favorite ball striker Jim Furyk, Westwood teed off in the 12:58 group and posted five birdies on the front nine, turning in 32.
It was a furious start for the 38-year old professional, who is one of several players in the running for the most sardonic title in the golf: Best player to never win a major. It’s a moniker that Westwood has been trying to shake for quite some time, and he’s threatened to shed that cloak of incompetence at Augusta on more than one occasion.
However, with Mother Nature making her presence known during Westwood’s back nine, the Englishman looked focused. He added two birdies to offset his bogey on Camelia (No. 10) and finished the round one shot clear of South African Louis Oosthuizen and Swede Peter Hanson.
Lee Westwood finished as the runner-up to Phil Mickelson at The Masters two years ago, but in his 13th appearance at Augusta National, he thinks that he’s finally got a grasp on what it takes to survive, and inevitably thrive, at The Masters.
In an interview with The Province, Westwood said, “I’ve played here enough — it’s my 13th time — and I know the golf course and that eradicates a lot of the tension.”
The fact that Westwood was able to overcome the bogey on No. 10 and the weather that seemed to suck the momentum out of his round certainly bodes well for the No. 3-ranked player in the world. And despite the Brit’s struggles in America, having won only two PGA Tour events in his career, the international flavor at the top of the leaderboard should make Westwood feel much more comfortable with his surroundings.
With a victory at Augusta, Lee Westwood would finally be able to erase the “without a major” part, and would vie to simply be considered one of the “world’s best.”
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