Tough Going for AAC Champion Stubbs at Augusta

Augusta, Georgia, United States: Asia-Pacific Amateur Championship (AAC) winner Jasper Stubbs will be gunning for a low score in Friday’s second round at the 88th Masters Tournament.

The 22-year-old Australian dropped six shots over the closing four holes in Thursday’s opening round as he signed for an eight-over 80.

But the Victorian, who earned his Masters invitation by virtue of winning the AAC at Royal Melbourne six months ago, remained in a positive frame of mind.

“That's the plan, learn something from today and come out tomorrow and try my best to still make the cut. We'll just try and have as low a round as we can tomorrow,” said Stubbs, who settled early butterflies by getting up-and-down from 100 yards for a par at the first after missing the fairway to the left with his drive.

“I was pretty nervous walking on to the tee of number one. But it wasn't as bad as I was kind of expecting,” Stubbs said.

Birdies at the second and eighth – both par-fives – were offset by dropped shots at the fourth, seventh and ninth as he turned in one-over 37.

After another bogey at 10, he parred the next four holes before his round unravelled on the closing stretch as the wind picked up.

His approach to the par-five 15th was agonisingly short, his ball pitching on the bank short of the green and rolling back into the water hazard.

Wayward tee-shots resulted in a five at the short 16th and a bogey at 17. At the 18th, he found the green in regulation but three-putted.

Fellow former AAC winner Hideki Matsuyama also has his work cut out to make the cut after opening with a four-over 76.

The Japanese, who became the first Asian winner of the Masters in 2021, made his only birdie of the day at 16 to get to two-over but then dropped shots on the two closing holes.

American Bryson DeChambeau set a sizzling pace with a seven-under-par 65 that left him atop the leaderboard, one shot ahead of world number one Scottie Scheffler.

Five-time Masters winner Tiger Woods was one-under through 13 holes in what is only his second tournament start of the year. Rory McIlroy, who is seeking to win the Masters for the first time to complete a career Grand Slam, opened with a 71, while defending champion Jon Rahm returned a 73.