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Posted April 5, 2012, 10:01 pm
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Lee Westwood off to fast start in bid for Masters win

World No. 3 shoots 67 to take lead
  • Article Photos
    Lee Westwood off to fast start in bid for Masters win
    Photos description
    Rory McIlroy reads the green on No. 7 before his chip shot during the first round. He made par on the hole and closed at 1-under 71.

The old “Big Three” began the day as honorary starters for the first time. And Lee Westwood, one of the current “Big Three” in the world ranking, finished it at the top of the Masters Tournament leaderboard.

Jack Nicklaus, Arnold Palmer and Gary Player have 13 green jackets among them, but Westwood would dearly love to slip on his first one early Sunday evening.

The Englishman, who is ranked No. 3 in the world behind No. 1 Luke Donald and Rory McIlroy, is off to a strong start in his bid for the jacket and his elusive first major championship.

Westwood, 38, shot 5-under 67 at an Augusta National Golf Club that was wet from rain on Tuesday and Wednesday. Intermittent rain made an appearance in the late afternoon Thursday, but play was never halted and the final group finished just past 7 p.m.

One of the players in the final group was Sweden’s Peter Hanson, who shot 68 to tie for second place with South African Louis Oosthuizen, the winner of the 2010 British Open.

Six players shot 69 – Scotland’s Paul Lawrie, Spain’s Miguel Angel Jimenez, Italy’s Francesco Molinari and Americans Ben Crane, Jason Dufner and Bubba Watson.

Today, they’ll all be chasing Westwood, who will be trying to buck a Masters trend. Dating back to Ben Crenshaw’s victory in 1984, only 2008 winner Trevor Immelman won the tournament after being a first-round leader or co-leader.

Westwood is 0-for-55 in major championships, but has five top-3 finishes in the past three years, including a runner-up finish in the 2010 Masters to Phil Mickelson.

“Majors are my primary focus and this was a long time coming around after the PGA Championship (in August),” he said.

Westwood was in total control of his game. He missed just two fairways and two greens as he struck for seven birdies, including four in a row starting at No. 5. He had 31 putts.

The round didn’t go as smoothly for the other Big Three members, especially Donald, who had 75.

McIlroy, who led the Masters last year with a first-round 65, battled back from a double bogey on the first hole to finish with 71 thanks to birdies on the final two holes.

Four-time Masters champ Tiger Woods shot 72. Also at 72 were defending champion Charl Schwartzel and Aug­usta native Charles Howell.

Three-time Masters champion Mickelson birdied No. 18 to finish at 74.

Though Mickelson had a tough day because of an uncooperative driver, Hanson gave him some credit for his strong play. He tried to soak up some of the gallery’s love for Mickelson.

“I kind of walked pretty close to Phil through all of these tight, roped areas, in between greens and tees. Kind of just enjoying it,” Hanson said. “The crowd, they love Phil, and I can pretty much understand why, being such a fantastic player and having won here three times.

“So it was kind of nice to get a little bit of that. Even if it was not meant for me, I was kind of taking it on a bit and kind of enjoyed it.”

Hanson will shadow Mickelson again today, when they tee off at 10:46 a.m. with Hunter Mahan.

In his second appearance at Augusta National, Hanson took a bold approach Thursday by attacking the course.

“My mindset was try be to really aggressive off the tee and be pretty aggressive into the greens, and I managed to do that all the way around and I think that helped me a lot,” Hanson said. “I thought mentally I was very strong today, so that was nice.

“I think my biggest challenge for the next three days is going to stay in the same mental presence I did today, keep playing aggressive,” Hanson said.

As for Oosthuizen, he almost pulled off a “Charl Schwartzel,” at the end of his round. He birdied three of the final four holes for his 68, missing No. 16.

Fellow South African Schwartz­el, of course, birdied the final four holes of last year’s Masters to win the green jacket.

“I tried to, to get the four, but I missed the one,” said Oosthuizen, who is one of Schwartzel’s best friends.

The closing two birdies were part of a 3-under 33 second nine for Oosthuizen. He also had birdies on Nos. 12, 14 and 15 to go with bogeys on Nos. 11 and 13.

“I was disappointed with the 13th, hitting in the water my second,” Oosthuizen said. “But I had an opportunity to save par and just missed an 8 footer. But then, from there on, I still felt very confident. I knew I was hitting it well, and especially my irons, and you know, I made a few nice putts coming in.

The 68 was a breakthrough round at Augusta Nat­ional for Oosthuizen, who has missed the cut in each of his previous three appearances here and never shot lower than 73.

He’s drawn inspiration from Schwartzel’s victory last year.

“We play together a lot, and I think it’s more just watching videos of him winning over and over, and seeing the way he handled himself under the pressure which was brilliant, finishing with four birdies,” Oosthuizen said. “The main thing was he put himself in a position to win.”

Sweden’s Henrik Stenson had much to celebrate on his 36th birthday Thursday – at least for 17 holes. He was 5-under for the round and holding a two-shot lead going to No. 18.

But he tied the tournament record for the highest score on the 18th hole, making quadruple bogey 8 for 71.

At the time, it dropped him from solo first place to a tie for 11th place. By the end of the round, he was tied for 14th, four behind Westwood.

“It’s a new day tomorrow,” Stenson said.