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MIN Woo Lee was in trouble. The chef was not cooking, four over par through six holes.
He had made bogeys on Nos. 1, 4, 5 and 6. He failed to birdie the par-5 second despite hitting the green in two. He drove it into the greenside bunker on the short par-4 third and only made par.
But as he has told us before, “Let him cook.”
Let him have some time to brew something up and the chef will deliver. And he very nearly did.
The Perth native and Callaway star blasted his drive up the par-5 eighth and had an iron in for his second. He overshot the green, but crafted a delicate pitch shot to five feet and made the birdie putt.
At the famous par-3 12th, he finessed a three-quarter iron shot from the tee to almost tap-in range and drained the bridie. At the par-5 13th, Lee needed just a 3-wood from the tee to the right rough, where he shaped a beautiful draw off a lie well above his feet and made the 15-foot eagle.
But that’s where Lee’s furious charge back ended. He made bogey at the par-4 14th and par-3 16th.
In all, the stats told the story. Lee hit 10 of 14 fairways using his Callaway Paradym Ai Smoke Triple Diamond S, but hit only nine of 18 greens. He simply was not good enough with his irons, apart from the tee shot on No.12 and the second shot into No.13.
Lee, who broke his finger in the gym last week, will no doubt be fired up to craft a good second round to make the cut in this third Masters.
Nicolai Hojgaard was the leading Callaway player at five under through 16 holes when play was suspended just before 8pm local time.
What’s in the bag: Min Woo Lee
Driver: Callaway Paradym Ai Smoke Triple Diamond S
3-wood: Callaway Paradym Ai Smoke Triple Diamond High Launch
Driving iron: Callaway X-Forged UT
Irons: Callaway Apex MB (4-PW)
Wedges: Callaway Mack Daddy 5 Jaws (50)
Putter: Odyssey Ai-One Double Wide, Odyssey Stroke Lab 70 shaft
Ball: Callaway Chrome Tour X
Meanwhile, Jasper Stubbs, the Victorian amateur, had a tough day at the office. After getting to one under through three holes, Stubbs played his next 15 holes in 11 over to shoot an eight-over 80.
“I was pretty nervous walking on to the tee of No. 1,” Stubbs said of his Masters debut. “It wasn’t as bad as I was expecting. I felt ready to play a good round of golf. I got off to a decent start after that.”
Stubbs, a Callaway star of the future and Asia Pacific Amateur champion, vowed to come back stronger for Friday’s second round.
“Yeah, that’s the plan, learn something from today and try and come out tomorrow, and I’ll do my best to still make the cut, but yeah, we’ll just try and have as low a round as we can tomorrow.”
What’s in the bag: Jasper Stubbs
Driver: Callaway Paradym Triple Diamond
3-wood: Callaway Paradym Triple Diamond
Irons: Callaway Apex UT ’24 (20°) and Callaway Apex CB (4-10-iron)
Wedges: Callaway JAWS Raw (50, 56, 60)
