Last year’s champion and the 2003 champion had decidedly different experiences on Thursday as the 90th Masters tournament got underway at Augusta National Golf Club in Georgia.
Defending champion Rory McIlroy fired a 5-under 67 in ideal scoring conditions and is tied with American Sam Burns for the lead after the first round of the major championship.
Meanwhile, former BYU golfer Mike Weir, the only golfer with strong Utah ties in the field of 91, shot a 9-over-par 81 and almost certainly won’t make the cut when Friday’s second round concludes. Weir is tied for 86th entering Round 2.
Weir’s round was doomed almost from the start, as he made a double-bogey 6 on the par-4 third hole to drop to 3 over. He also made a double on the par-4 17th and finished with a bogey on the par-4 18th.
Weir did make one birdie Thursday, carding a 4 on the par-5 13th.
This is the Canadian’s 27th appearance in the Masters. The former All-American at BYU became the first left-handed major champion since Bob Charles, the 1963 British Open winner, when he won the Masters in 2003.
Weir, 55, currently plays on the PGA Tour’s Champions Tour. He will tee off at 6:02 a.m. MDT Friday with former U.S. Open champion Wyndham Clark and amateur Mateo Pulcini, who is from Argentina. Clark shot a 72 on Thursday and Pulcini matched Weir’s 81.
Another Utahn who has been a fixture at the Masters the past eight years, Tony Finau, did not qualify to play in the first major of the year this year.
Rory McIlroy, of Northern Ireland, hits his tee shot on the 18th hole during the first round of the Masters golf tournament at the Augusta National Golf Club, Thursday, April 9, 2026, in Augusta, Ga. | AP
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