The Masters leaderboard, Round 1: Tiger Woods shoots 1-under, Sungjae Im leads

The Masters leaderboard for Round 1 is looking ripe with star power, including Tiger Woods impressing but still chasing leader Sungjae Im.

We’re off and running at Augusta National Golf Club and, with the start of The Masters, that also meant the triumphant return of Tiger Woods. Everyone was excited just to see him playing, but the curiosity about how he’d perform was at the forefront of all minds.

Though it was far from perfect, Woods looked impressively good overall in his first round in over 500 days and just over 400 days since his car accident. He finished the round shooting 1-under after making a clutch par save on the 18th hole.

Still, Woods isn’t in the lead, but he is in the Top 10. There are still players on the course, but one who isn’t is Australian Cameron Smith, who put forth a superb round — for the most part — to shoot 4-under and take the early lead.

Thereafter, though, the man who finished tied with Smith at The Masters in 2020, Sungjae Im, put together an eye-popping round of his own to take the lead and secure himself the top spot heading into the second round at 5-under.

How does the rest of the Top 10 shake out? Let’s take a look at the Top 10 to see where things stand at Augusta.

Masters leaderboard for Round 1 [Updated]

1. Sungjae Im | -5
2. Cameron Smith | -4
T3.Danny Willett | -3
T3. Joaquin Niemann | -3
T3. Scottie Scheffler | -3
T3. Dustin Johnson | -3
T7. Jason Kokrak | -2
T7. Corey Conners | -2
T7. Patrick Cantlay | -2
T10. Harry Higgs | -1
T10. Kevin Na | -1
T10. Daniel Berger | -1
T10. Tiger Woods | -1
T10. Tony Finau | -1
T10. Webb Simpson | -1
T10. Harold Varner III | -1
T10. Will Zalatoris | -1

We’re obviously looking at a jam-packed Top 10 right now at Augusta National Golf Club, which is to be expected on the first day. We start to see more separation later on. However, Woods is obviously the biggest story with not just teeing it up, but putting forth an extremely strong effort to be well in position to make the cut.

As for Cameron Smith, he played holes 2-17 beautifully with eight birdies on the day. Unfortunately, he ended up with only shooting a 68 on the day after double bogeys on the first and 18th holes of the day. Still, he goes into the clubhouse with the lead, which has to be a great feeling for him. There are plenty of chasers who can run him down, though.

Im had a similarly up-and-down round as he jumped out to tie the lead early with some big-time birdies, but had to claw back into the top spot after some sloppy bogeys cost him in the middle of the round.

Masters Round 1 leaderboard: Notable players outside Top 10

Despite dealing with a neck injury, defending champion Hideki Matsuyama is chasing hard with an even-par round to start his week off.

Riding the struggle bus, though are guys like Justin Thomas (4-over), Bryson DeChambeau (4-over), and none more so than Matthew Wolff, whose 9-over 81 tied for the second-worst round of Thursday. Brooks Koepka also fell apart late and a bogey on the 18th hole dropped him to just 3-over.

Then there were plenty of mid-tier rounds from big-name players. Xander Schauffele, Jordan Spieth and Jon Rahm all finished 2-over for the day, Rory McIlroy and Collin Morikawa finished at 1-under, and Viktor Hovland has to feel as if he left meat on the bone at Even after it was basically two holes and penalty shots that did him in.

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