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Augusta, Ga. • Only three golfers in Masters history have made holes-in-one on the famed No. 12. Daniel Summerhays nearly became the fourth player to do so, as his shot spun back to within 4 inches of the hole in Thursday's opening round at Augusta National Golf Club.
The tap-in birdie eventually helped the former Davis High School and BYU golfer get back to even par, but he bogeyed Nos. 16 and 17 to post a 2-over-par 74.
Ex-BYU golfer Mike Weir, the 2003 champion, parred his last seven holes to shoot a 76.
Those scores will look better by the end of the day, with the wind making the scoring conditions very difficult.
Summerhays turned to the gallery, grinning broadly and patting his heart after experiencing the thrill of watching the ball trickle back toward the hole of No. 12. "I'll definitely remember that shot for the rest of my life," he said.
In his first Masters appearance, Summerhays hit the opening shot of the tournament, following ceremonial drives by Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player. Summerhays and Russell Henley played as a twosome and finished about an hour ahead of the next threesome, even though their round took more than four hours as most shots required considerable study.
Three of Summerhays' five bogeys resulted from three-putt greens, but putting was not the issue as much as his approach shots that ended up far from the holes on Nos. 3, 6 and 17. In each case, he thought he hit "good shots that flat-out didn't turn out good for me," thanks to the gusting wind.
With the wind blowing sand out of the bunkers, the conditions reminded Weir of the third round of his Masters debut in 2000. "If you're mishitting it a little bit, you're just going to get blown off the golf course," he said.
This story will be updated.
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