Ryan Palmer happy about opening round

Ryan Palmer’s 13th career round at the Masters was anything but unlucky.

The Texas native, playing in his fifth Masters, had just one three-putt as he shot 3-under 69 for his best opening round at Augusta National Golf Club.

Palmer’s consistent effort left him tied for eighth with three others, five strokes behind leader Jordan Spieth, and in good spirits after the round.

Palmer’s five-birdie effort could have been lower if not for a wayward drive ending up in the right trees on No. 18, where he took a bogey.

“Breaking 70 on Thursday is never a bad thing, especially here at the Masters,” said Palmer, whose previous best opening at Augusta was 70 in 2005. “I was pretty solid all day. Tee to green was good today.”

Palmer jump-started his round on No. 2 by hitting a 3-wood from the right rough on the green and finishing with a tap-in birdie to go 1-under.

He had his round to 4-under by No. 8 after back-to-back birdies and shot 32 on the front nine.

Palmer three-putted No. 11 from 40 feet, and his drive on No. 18 left him no shot at the green in two.

The second nine also saw some excellence out of Palmer. He just missed eagle on the par-5 No. 15, settling for birdie. Then he made a dicey, downhill 7-foot putt for par on No. 16 after his tee shot found sand.

“To save par there was huge,” he said.

Palmer figured out the speed of the greens early, avoiding those scorecard-wrecking 4- and 5-footers.

“I worked hard Wednesday on that,” he said. “I went out and worked on some putts with my coach Randy (Smith) on my speed. And the work I’ve done showed up.”

Palmer said the greens were soft but he was certain “that will change throughout the week.”