Masters 2013 Leaderboard: Recapping All the Action from Day 1

With the golfing world's eyes firmly fixed on Tiger Woods and the pursuit of his fifth green jacket at the 2013 Masters, other storylines stepped up at made the world No. 1 fight for all the coverage he got at Augusta on Thursday. 

From 14-year-old Tianlang Guan to the emergence of Australian Marc Leishman and always fun to watch Sergio Garcia, the opening round of the 77th Masters had plenty of secondary stories to follow if you got tired of the rat race between Woods, Rory McIlroy and the other top golfers in action at Augusta. 

Of course, the big names will no doubt have their say by Sunday. 

Leishman and Garcia both shot a six-under 66 on Thursday, earning co-leader honors ahead of Dustin Johnson (-5) and slew of other golfers (53-year-old Fred Couples, Matt Kuchar, Trevor Immelman, David Lynn, Rickie Fowler and Gonzalo Fernandez-Castano) that sit at four-under. 

Jim Furyk, Adam Scott and Zach Johnson clocked out at three-under. 

Woods headlines the group of golfers sitting at two-under, joining Justin Rose, Lee Westwood and Brandt Snedeker, right ahead of one-under contenders Phil Mickelson, Ernie Els and Angel Cabrera. 

McIlroy finished at even par, hitting five birdies to go along with five bogeys in an up-and-down opening round. 

The big story of the day belonged to Guan, a young man who is the youngest participant to ever compete at the Masters in the 77-year history of the event. After holding his own with Masters legend Ben Crenshaw and Matteo Manassero through the first few holes, he had three birdies on the back nine, and finished his day at one-over—well above the expect cut of four-over. 

By comparison, the streak of back-to-back Masters title is in jeopardy yet again. No one has won two straight Masters since Woods from 2000-01, and Bubba Watson came out flat with a three-over 75 in pursuit of his second green jacket. 

Needless to say, it was an exciting round of action on Thursday morning leading into the late afternoon at Augusta National. Check out the leaderboard below for the headliners heading into Round 2, and check PGATour.com's leaderboard for a complete look at the standings before Friday's tee times kick off. 

Analysis

The course was relatively friendly to the golfers on Thursday, although some might not agree (check the bottom of the leaderboard). 

With the greens playing extremely favorable to the high-arching approach, guys were able to get in favorable spots and take advantage of the fact that poor tee shots (always a struggle at Augusta) weren't going to hurt as much if you could command the short game well. 

The par-three No. 6 was good to the group on Thursday. 

Jamie Donaldson grabbed early headlines by making a hole-in-one on Juniper, just the 24th hole-in-one all time at the Masters and the sixth-ever at that specific hole (via Shane Bacon of Yahoo! Sports). Donaldson finished at a disappointing two-over, but his approach was true on the ace on Thursday. 

Woods and McIlroy both enjoyed Juniper, too, each grabbing birdie putts on the hole after hitting nice approach shots out of the box. 

McIlroy and Mickelson ended up playing opposite rounds on Thursday, though I bet the field would rather have Mickelson's scorecard when waking up on Friday morning rather than McIlroy's. 

After a slow start, the three-time Masters champion Mickelson got it going on the back nine, posting four birdies in five holes from No. 12 to No. 16, putting himself back into the thicket of contention before dropping off slightly with a bogey at No. 17. Just five shots back, Phil made a push that could carry over into the next three rounds after an extremely slow start. 

On the flip side, McIlroy had a strong start, characterized by birdie putts on No. 2, 6 and 9 before flip-flopping above and below par on the back nine. McIlroy had a rough day closing, which has been indicative of both his time at Augusta and the 2013 season. 

The favorite to win the tournament did not disappoint, and is likely right where he wants to be before Friday's action kicks off. 

Tiger had a bogey-free day until No. 14, dropping a stroke there before saving par on the final four holes to finish at two-under. Woods missed some putts (No. 15) that we've seen him make with regularity here over the years, but it's clear he's in top form and is not to be messed with—especially if he gets a lead over the next two days (14-1 in major championships with a share of the lead after Round 3). 

At the top of the leaderboard, Leishman and Garcia really stole the show. 

The big Australian won the Traveler's Championship in 2012, and finished tied for 27th at the Masters last year. He's come out hot this year, eager to add his name to the mix, while Garcia is out to get rid of the Masters curse that has followed him over the years. 

After solid showings in the early part of his career, Garcia hasn't finished inside the top 10 since 2004; he finished tied for 12th in 2012 and looks poised to be in contention for his first-ever major championship (hard to believe, huh?) if he plays like he did on Thursday for the rest of the way. 

The pairings will flip-flop for Friday morning, meaning that players who teed off in the afternoon will draw earlier assignments and those who were early-risers on Thursday will get some added rest on Friday morning. 

Only two (Garcia and Fowler) of the top-nine golfers will tee off past noon ET, meaning Friday morning will be a great time to check out the early scores from Augusta while you get your day started at work. 

Notable Shots

While Donaldson's hole-in-one takes the cake as the best shot of the day, he wasn't the only golfer that had a memorable experience making a big play on Thursday. 

It wouldn't be the Masters if Mickelson wasn't getting out of the rough, which he did from the pine straws on the ninth hole. He landed his shot below on the green, saved par and then proceeded to catch fire just three holes later. Huge play by the lefty to stay afloat in the opening round. 

D.A. Points finished at even par, but this chip was a pure thing of beauty. 

Speaking of beauty, check out Guan's fringe putt for birdie that put him in position to be both the youngest Masters participant and survivor past the cut. 

Dustin Johnson, who had a great under-the-radar day at five-under to find himself in third, put in a nice putt for birdie on No. 14, which pushed his score to its current point. 

Note: All images and GIFs courtesy of Ken Dorset's Thursday piece on the opening round Masters action. 

Day 2 Golfers to Watch

Fred Couples

Freddy Couples loves Augusta. 

There's no other explanation for his early-round dominance over the past few years than that, especially after he made headlines on Wednesday by comparing one of the United States' most difficult course to his own personal playground (via Kyle Porter of CBS Sports). 

Couples is once again in contention with a four-under 68, and the 53-year-old is clearly proving that his shelf-life at the Masters compares to few other golfers in the history of the event. 

However, Couples has had back issues over the years, and he is 53. It's not going to be easy to keep up his current pace, but three-straight appearances in the top 15 should keep the Couples Cinderella stories alive at least through the second round. 

Don't forget—Couples won his green jacket in 1992. Incidentally, it's also his only major win. Couples and Jim Furyk are keeping hope alive for the old dogs in 2013. 

Matt Kuchar/Justin Rose

If there's two guys more hungry for a Masters win than these two, someone let me know who that golfer is. 

Kuchar and Rose were both Ryder Cup members in 2012, and have been steadily moving up the World Golf Rankings in the process. Rose, currently at No. 3 behind Woods and McIlroy, finished tied for eighth at the Masters in 2012 and also cracked the Top 10 at the PGA Championship last season. 

The Englishman hit 13-of-18 greens and also nailed 11-of-14 fairways. He's off to a strong start, as is Kuchar, the man who finished in the Top 3 at this event in 2012. Kuchar has a Top 10 finish in each major in the last three seasons, and has come on strong yet again with his WGC-Accenture Match Play win in February. 

Kuchar hit 14-of-18 greens, and had one of the lowest putt-per-green averages of Round 1 with 1.50. Both men are must-watch performers on Friday, simply because both are hungry to take the next step up the golf ladder with a major win. 

Tianlang Guan

The 14-year-old has fully grabbed the Day 1 headlines, but how will he respond in Day 2?

If the answer is anywhere close to his performance on Thursday, then no one should be worried about the Chinese star and his demeanor. 

Calm, cool and collected is a great way to describe Guan in Round 1, particularly on the first tee. He calmly shook hands with two-time Masters winner Crenshaw and pair mate Manassero before stepping to the box, then proceeded to rip a nice drive down the middle of the fairway. 

Still, an eighth-grader making the cut at Augusta is absurd. 

Instead of doing homework, Guan will be studying up on how to improve upon his one-over score on Thursday and avoid the final cut in the process. It's completely unfair to lump these kind of expectations on the young man, but how he responds to being in position to make the cut should tell us a lot about his mental psyche for the rest of the tournament—and maybe his career. 

Expect cameras and question marks to follow Guan around all day until he heads to the clubhouse on Friday afternoon, and deservedly so—the young man is blossoming into a star right before our eyes on golf's biggest stage. 

It's what makes the Masters great. 

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