Ludvig Åberg finished Thursday with a 74, two over par, tied for 40th place, and has a lot of work to do if he is to compete in the top flight at the US Masters for the third year in a row.
Yet everything started almost flawlessly when Åberg rolled in birdies on holes 2, 4 and 6. At three under par, he was early at the top of the leaderboard at the first major of the year.
“Tricky situations”
But then his shots disappeared at a furious pace. It was especially on holes 9 and 13 that Augusta's blazingly fast greens dealt two heavy blows to Åberg, who made double bogeys on both holes after poor short play.
"I put myself in tricky positions, which is a mistake in the first place. I shouldn't be long right on the ninth or long left on 13," Åberg says after the round.
The double bogey on 13 - after Åberg chipped the ball into the water - was the culmination of a five-hole period where the Scanian went a total of six over par.
"I was unsure whether to chip or putt. Everything just tilted away, as we all saw," he says.
"It almost felt like Sunday hardness on the greens. When you miss the shots into the greens on the wrong side, it becomes very difficult to make short-range shots. But you can also see that in the scores - there are no ones that stick out."
Ludvig Åberg birdied 14 followed by four straight pars, to finish the day at 74. It's his worst score ever in the Masters - even though he's never started a round better than he did today.
Seven strokes off the lead
The race can hardly be illustrated more clearly than that.
"It was a bit of a roller coaster," Åberg notes.
He is seven strokes behind the leading duo, American Sam Burns and reigning champion Rory McIlroy.
When the Northern Irishman won last year, he was also seven strokes off the lead after the first round, then shot two straight rounds of 66 to take the lead.
Is everything still possible?
"Yes, absolutely," says Åberg.
"I still feel like even if I had a dip in the middle of the round, I could come back and keep hitting good shots. That's what I like to see, that I have the opportunity to do that. Then we'll see when we get out tomorrow morning (3:43 p.m. local time in Sweden). Hopefully the greens are a little softer and I can take advantage of one of the par 5s instead of what I did today. Then we'll see where it lands."
