sport news Danny Willett rolls back the years to remind us of one of Augusta's greatest ... trends now
A mad scientist and a placid assassin took control of the leaderboard, but it was an Englishman with an iffy shoulder who stumbled most unexpectedly into our field of vision on a compelling first day at the Masters.
As ever, Danny Willett knows how to spring a surprise. None will ever match the greatest one of all, when he won this tournament in 2016, but his opening 68 here was a brilliant ride and a nice reminder of his better times.
In the bigger picture, no one would necessarily forecast him being up there for long, nor that his presence will cause tremors among Bryson Dechambeau and Scottie Scheffler, who set the pace on seven and six under respectively.
But Willett possesses a fine story in its own right owing to the fact he had not played since September because of shoulder surgery and was initially warned he would be out for up to 18 months. As recently as Monday he said he was only 80-20 in favour of playing, so his four-under-par round was a delight, especially a closing run of three birdies in his final four holes.
On an opening day hit by a two-and-a-half hour delay because of the stormy morning weather, and in which the likes of Tiger Woods ran out of light to complete their rounds, that was a fine way to capitalise on the softened conditions. The same would not be said of Rory McIlroy - he was erratic in shooting 71 and will resume six behind Dechambeau in his ever-lasting mission to break the Augusta curse.
Danny Willett rolled back the years at the Masters to surprise many fans at Augusta National
The Englishman, who has only just recovered from shoulder surgery, posted a card of 68
The 2016 Masters Champion admitted that his successful first round was ‘unexpected'
He is also five back of Scheffler, his playing partner for the first two rounds. That might already be too far. Quite simply, one of them makes too many mistakes and the other is just so reliably consistent - Scheffler didn't make a single bogey in his 66.
When he found himself in a sticky situation, most glaringly in the bunker behind the par three 12th, he went and holed it for his third of six birdies.
But that's to be expected of the world No 1. He is a machine. Less was anticipated of Dechambeau, whose character and game exist less within the margins. He was exceptional on a course that has not typically been his friend - his best finish here was a tie for 21st in 2016, the year Willett won.
Willett finished up his first round four under-par with seven birdies
Since then he has gained bulk, lost bulk, dabbled in all manner of physics and joined
