Masters 2012 Leaderboard: Live Look-In at Early Pairings

The first-round pairings at the Masters are always good for the fans. Usually, players will be put together in order to get the media and fans talking. 

This year was a little bit tame, at least from a storytelling perspective, but the players everyone cares about are going to get the spotlight no matter what. 

Since we are a few hours into the first round, here's an inside look at the results from some of the early pairings. 

Tiger Woods, Miguel Angel Jimenez, Sang-Moon Bae

Of course we would start here, because Woods is always going to be the focus of any tournament he plays in. 

Woods is off to an OK start. As of this writing, he is sitting at one-under-par halfway through the round. He doesn't have to exhaust all of his energy today, just put forth a solid effort, and he will be ready to make a run. 

Jimenez is following Tiger's lead, sitting at one-under at the turn. He hit a birdie on the second and ninth hole, but a bogey on the fifth took away some of his momentum. 

Bae is struggling to find his rhythm in the early going. He is at five-over-par with two double-bogies already. Unless he can find his stroke soon, he is going to have a long climb tomorrow to make the cut. 

Luke Donald, Francesco Molinari, Nick Watney

Donald, the No. 1-ranked player in the world, is not off to a good start. The round started off poorly, with a bogey on the first hole, and there has been no consistency to his game through 10 holes. He has four bogies and two birdies so far. 

Molinari has played a very conservative round, but it has worked for him. He is not taking any risks, just remaining comfortable hitting the ball where it needs to go and walking away with pars. He did get a birdie on the second hole, so he is picking his spots.

Watney is taking his cue from Molinari. He is sitting at one-under-par on the 10th hole thanks to a birdie on the par-three sixth hole. 

Charl Schwartzel, Keegan Bradley, Kelly Kraft

Schwartzel, last year's Masters champion, is off to an inconsistent start, with two birdies and two bogies through 11 holes. He is going to have to put himself in positions to gain shots, because he doesn't have enough power to make up for fairways missed. 

A double-bogey on the first hole could have doomed Bradley, but he has come back with two birdies on the second and fourth holes to get back to even par. All things considered, that is a good sign for the young American. 

Kraft took Bradley's approach, with a double-bogey on the first hole. But unlike Bradley, Kraft wasn't able to turn things around. As it stands, he is sitting at four-over-par heading into the 12 hole. 

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