Luke Donald struggles in first round

At this rate, there might be a new jinx to go with the Par-3 Contest jinx in the Masters Tournament.

Call it the No. 1-ranked player jinx.

Luke Donald, the current world No. 1, struggled to 3-over-par 75 in Thursday’s first round of the Masters Tournament. In 2010, Martin Kaymer was ranked No. 1 and opened with 78 en route to missing the cut by five shots.

Since the Par-3 Contest started in 1960, no one has ever won that Wednesday event and the tournament in the same year. It’s now been 10 years since the No. 1-ranked player (Tiger Woods at the time) won the Masters.

For at least an hour after Donald finished his round, there was a question that he might be disqualified. His score in the Augusta National Golf Club’s scoring system listed him as 73. If he had signed for a score lower than he shot, he would have been disqualified.

Augusta National later announced that “due to an administrative error,” Donald’s score had been entered incorrectly into the scoring system.

The original score in the computer had Donald making a birdie 3 on the par-4 fifth hole. He told reporters after the round that he had three-putted that hole for bogey.

Later, the 3 was changed to 5 in the Augusta National scoring system and Donald’s score changed to what he really shot – 75.

Donald is hoping the No. 1-jinx applies just to the first round. After all, Kaymer did rebound from his opening 78 to shoot 72.

Donald, who is in his second stint as the No. 1 player, had six bogeys and three birdies Thursday.

“I’m disappointed; that’s not what I wanted. I struggled a bit today; I didn’t hit enough good iron shots, unfortunately,” said Donald, who hit just seven of 18 greens. “Around here, the short game is tough. Even when I hit decent short-game shots, I didn’t make the putts when I needed to.

“It was frustrating, for sure. Hopefully, I can shoot a good one tomorrow and maybe get into red figures. Who knows what can happen? I made it tough for myself. But the tournament’s not over yet.”

Donald bogeyed No. 1, birdied, No. 2 then bogeyed Nos. 5 and 6 with three-putt greens to fall to 2-over for the day.

“I was always playing catch-up from there,” he said. “I knew it was going to be a little tougher.”

He held his round together at the end by making a 20-footer for birdie on No. 17 and a 12-footer for par on No. 18.

It was the seventh time in eight starts that Donald didn’t break par in the first round at the Masters. His only subpar opening round was 68 in his debut in 2005.

Thursday’s round also ended a streak in the 60s for Donald. He opened last year’s tournament with 72, then followed with 68-69-69.