Masters 2012 Leaderboard: Biggest Surprises from Opening Round

In what seems to be a tradition like no other, the opening round of the Masters is littered with relatively unknown players that are atop the leaderboard.

Blame first-round jitters, good luck with the weather or just a “nothing-to-lose” mentality, this trend is nothing new.

Here are three of the biggest surprises early on in the most prestigious golf tournament of the entire year.

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T2. Paul Lawrie (-3)

One of the first players to tee off this morning came out of the gate rather quietly, but a chip-in for eagle on the 15th hole really set him up for a promising weekend. This was his second eagle of the day, and the 1999 British Open champ was a bogey on 18 away from really putting himself in a promising position.

T2. Miguel “Angel” Jimenez (-3)

Jimenez has never won a major and never finished closer than tied for eighth at the Masters.

Now, the 48-year-old finds himself right in the thick of things after drilling four birdies and only committing one bogey in his first round. As long as he continues to play relatively mistake-free, the birdies are going to keep on flying in what could be the feel-good story of the weekend.

T9. Henrik Stenson (-1)

Whoa. Who?

Stenson is a native of Sweden that has a grand total of two PGA tour victories, one at the 2007 WGC-Accenture Match Play and in 2009 at the Players Championship

After drilling two eagles on Thursday, it looked as if he was going to be on the top of the leaderboard all weekend. After 17, he was in first place by himself at five-under. Unfortunately, Stenson spontaneously combusted on 18 with a snowman (8) to finish only one-under for the day.

It was a rough ending, but as long as he shakes it off, he’ll be right in the fold for the rest of the weekend. That’s a big “if,” though. 

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