Adam Scott starts Augusta defence

Augusta: The annual quest for Masters glory moved into full swing on golf’s greatest stage Thursday at Augusta National with favorites Rory McIlroy and Adam Scott going out in back to back groupings.

 

Defending champion Scott, who last year became the first Australian to win the Masters, headed out first in the 16th grouping of the day alongside PGA Championship winner Jason Dufner and 19 year old British amateur Matthew Fitzpatrick. 

Scott is bidding to become just the fourth player to win back to back Masters titles after Jack Nicklaus, Nick Faldo and Tiger Woods, the last man to achieve that feat in 2002.

 

In so doing, he would also take the world number one spot away from the Woods, who is absent through injury.“It’s been a process to get there and that’s where I’m at, at the moment, and I’m getting close. But it will take four great rounds this week,” he said.Eleven minutes later it was McIlroy’s turn as he began his bid to win a third major title after the 2011 US Open and 2012 PGA Championship.

 

The 24 year old Irishman had for company 20 year old Jordan Spieth and 23 year old Patrick Reed  two rising young US stars on the PGA Tour. Reed and Spieth are part of a record haul of 24 Masters first-timers who are threatening to turn the game inside out as the generation that spawned such talents as Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson, Ernie Els and Vijay Singh starts to fade.

 

“It’s funny that they are playing their first Masters and I'm playing my sixth,” McIlroy said of his playing partners. “I feel like the veteran in the group.” Among the first to show atop the leaderboard was Webb Simpson, who birdied the first three holes, while Jonas Blixt reached the turn at three-under with four birdies and a bogey.