Late birdie bonanza vaults Westwood into contention

With nine Masters rounds in the 60s, Lee Westwood has had plenty of stretches of good golf at Augusta National.

The 43-year-old English­man would be hard-pressed, however, to find one to match the run he went on to close Thursday’s opening round.

Sitting 3-over for the day through 12 holes, Westwood vaulted himself up the leaderboard with a birdie bonanza. By the time he was finished with a run of five consecutive birdies, Westwood was 2-under and all alone in third place with 70.

“It was nice to make five birdies in a row; really got some momentum going there,” Westwood said. “At 3-over par, I wasn’t super-excited, but I wasn’t too disappointed, either. I was just trying not to make any silly mistakes on 10, 11 and 12 and play my way out of the tournament.”

Westwood wasn’t exactly in a precarious position making the turn at 3-over after bogeying three of his final five holes on the front nine. The margin for error was minimal, though, and the toughest stretch of the course was right before him.

After safely navigating Nos. 10, 11 and 12, Westwood jump-started his final kick with a long birdie putt on No. 13. After another birdie on the 14th, Westwood went against the mindset of much of the field on No. 15 and went for the green in two rather than laying up.

His reasoning? Simple.

“I could get there,” he said jokingly. “They’re not as long as me. I’m a bomber.”

Then he added his true rationale.

“I only had 239 – it was a perfect 3-wood for me,” Westwood said. “I would have had to smoke it to hit it long, and fortunately I did smoke it and it stopped on the back edge. Right is always a good miss there; it’s an easier up-and-down from right than laying up.

“Shane (Lowry) laid up, and I thought that was an error on his part and he made six. I’m not saying that’s why he made six, but I like the one out right and you’ve got the full length of the green to play with there.”

Westwood blew his eagle putt six feet by, but he made the comebacker for his third consecutive birdie and then hit a 6-iron tight on No. 16 to make it four in a row. A wedge to less than 15 feet gave him a chance for five in a row and he cashed in, finishing his round by nearly holing a bunker shot on No. 18 before tapping in for par and his 2-under round.

Coming off a tie for second at last year’s Masters and six top-11 finishes in seven years, Westwood again finds himself in position to make a run at his first Masters win.

“I was just patient,” Westwood said. “I rolled a nice one in down the green on 13 and didn’t make any mental errors coming in. I kept plugging away.

“I’m delighted. Three-over par through 12, you absolutely like ending up 2-under.”