How Dustin Johnson, SC golfers played in Masters first round
Jacob Bridgeman saved the best for last and found himself in solid position after Thursday’s first round of his first Masters at Augusta National Golf Club.
After what he called “pretty boring golf” for 17 holes, Bridgeman chipped from behind the green for birdie on the finishing hole and posted a 1-under-par 71.
A Clemson graduate from Inman, he leads the South Carolina contingent after 18 holes of the year’s first major tournament. Columbia native and Coastal Carolina All-American Dustin Johnson posted a 1-over-par 71, and Andrew Novak (Mount Pleasant/Wofford) bogeyed the last to finish at 3-over-par 75.
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Boring golf “sometimes is good,” said Bridgeman, who leads the FedEx Cup standings and is ranked 18th in the world. “I wanted something and that (chip-in) was pretty special. I hit an awesome shot.”
His first trip in competition around Augusta National’s famed course “was pretty much exactly what I had planned,” he said. “I wanted to play conservative, figure out the course the best I could in tournament condition, which it’s very hard. It’s pretty fast and the greens are getting firm.
“I didn’t want to take many risks. I thought if I could play as conservative as I could, I could post a pretty good score and not let the scores get away from me. I’m pretty pleased.”
Bridgeman bogeyed the par-4 fifth after a poor drive and the par-4 14th after a rare three-putt. He birdied the par-5 13th and the par-3 16th before knocking another stroke off par at the last.
He leads the PGA Tour in both shots gained putting and three-putt avoidance and only his fourth three-putt in 590 holes surprised him.
“Honestly, I thought I made the first one,” he said. “I felt really good over the (first) putt. It was left-center and just happened to break five inches.”
He starts Friday’s second round at 9:02 a.m. and will be four shots off the lead.
Novak, also competing in his first Masters, “thought I played all right ... but I didn’t really leave myself in some good spots, especially on the front nine. I had some three-putts, but they weren’t really the putter’s fault; you just can’t leave the ball in spots like I did.”
He also has an early tee time Friday, going off at 8:02.
Like Novak, Johnson also bogeyed the final hole and slipped one stroke over par for the round. Coming into 18, he had played a pedestrian round with a birdie at the par-5 second and a bogey on the par-4 seventh.
He tugged his drive on No. 2 into the trees left, the put his second in front of the green on the right. He chipped close and made the putt. On No. 7, he drove past the trees that line the left side of the fairway, hit his second in a front bunker and could not save par from the sand.
His second round begins Friday at 12:56 p.m.
Friday tee times, featured groups
Featured groups in bold
- 7:40 AM Samuel Stevens, Sungjae Im
- 7:50 AM Andrew Novak, Tom McKibbin, Brian Campbell
- 8:02 AM Mike Weir, Wyndham Clark, Mateo Pulcini
- 8:14 AM Zach Johnson, Michael Kim, Nicolai Hojgaard
- 8:26 AM Danny Willett, Davis Riley, Ethan Fang
- 8:38 AM Adam Scott, Daniel Berger, Brian Harman
- 8:50 AM Fred Couples, Min Woo Lee, Fifa Laopakdee
- 9:02 AM Sergio Garcia, Aaron Rai, Jacob Bridgeman
- 9:19 AM Harry Hall, Corey Conners, Michael Brennan
- 9:31 AM J.J. Spaun, Maverick McNealy, Tyrrell Hatton
- 9:43 AM Jon Rahm, Chris Gotterup, Ludvig Aberg
- 9:55 AM Jordan Spieth, Justin Rose, Brooks Koepka
- 10:07 AM Sepp Straka, Ben Griffin, Justin Thomas
- 10:19 AM Scottie Scheffler, Robert MacIntyre, Gary Woodland
- 10:31 AM Harris English, Marco Penge, Si Woo Kim
- 10:51 AM John Keefer, Haotong Li
- 11:03 AM Naoyuki Kataoka, Max Homa, Carlos Ortiz
- 11:15 AM Jose Maria Olazabal, Rasmus Neergaard-Petersen, Aldrich Potgieter
- 11:27 AM Angel Cabrera, Sami Valimaki, Jackson Herrington
- 11:39 AM Charl Schwartzel, Max Greyserman, Ryan Fox
- 11:51 AM Vijay Singh, Matt McCarty, Rasmus Hojgaard
- 12:03 PM Kurt Kitayama, Kristoffer Reitan, Casey Jarvis
- 12:15 PM Bubba Watson, Nicolas Echavarria, Brandon Holtz
- 12:32 PM Cameron Smith, Sam Burns, Jake Knapp
- 12:44 PM Keegan Bradley, Ryan Gerard, Nick Taylor
- 12:56 PM Dustin Johnson, Shane Lowry, Jason Day
- 1:08 PM Patrick Reed, Tommy Fleetwood, Akshay Bhatia
- 1:20 PM Bryson DeChambeau, Matt Fitzpatrick, Xander Schauffele
- 1:32 PM Hideki Matsuyama, Collin Morikawa, Russell Henley
- 1:44 PM Rory McIlroy, Cameron Young, Mason Howell
- 1:56 PM Viktor Hovland, Patrick Cantlay, Alex Noren
How to watch, stream the Masters
In addition to daily streaming on Masters.com and the Masters app
Friday, Round 2
Amazon Prime: 1-3 pm
ESPN: 3-7:30 pm
Saturday, Round 3
Paramount Plus: Noon-2 pm
CBS and Paramount Plus: 2-7 pm
Sunday, Round 4
Paramount Plus: Noon-2 pm
CBS and Paramount Plus: 2-7 pm
This story was originally published April 9, 2026 at 8:19 PM with the headline "How Dustin Johnson, SC golfers played in Masters first round."