Sport

Dustin Johnson an injury doubt as Rory McIlroy eyes a fast start at US Masters

World number one Dustin Johnson's Masters participation was in doubt after injuring his back in a fall on Wednesday evening
World number one Dustin Johnson's Masters participation was in doubt after injuring his back in a fall on Wednesday evening World number one Dustin Johnson's Masters participation was in doubt after injuring his back in a fall on Wednesday evening

WORLD number one Dustin Johnson is a serious doubt for the Masters after injuring his back in a "serious fall" on Wednesday, his agent has said.

Johnson, who has won his last three events and was favourite to win a second major title at Augusta National, suffered the fall in his rented house.

"At roughly 3pm today, Dustin took a serious fall on a staircase in his Augusta rental home," his agent David Winkle said in a statement.

"He landed very hard on his lower back and is now resting, although quite uncomfortably. He has been advised to remain immobile and begin a regimen of anti-inflammatory medication and icing, with the hope of being able to play tomorrow."

Johnson does at least have the advantage of being in the final group out on Thursday at 2:03pm local time.

They say the Masters does not start until the back nine on Sunday, an adage borne out by Jordan Spieth’s dramatic collapse and Danny Willett’s subsequent triumph last year.

But it would be equally valid to state that a fast start is as vital as a strong finish for the likes of Rory McIlroy and Johnson (if he plays) if they want to slip on a coveted green jacket for the first time at Augusta National.

For the past 11 years, the eventual Masters champion has been inside the top 10 after the first round, with Tiger Woods the last player to come from well off the pace.

Woods, who is absent for the third time in four years due to ongoing back problems, was tied 33rd after an opening 74 in 2005 before surging though the field with scores of 66 and 65 and eventually beating Chris DiMarco in a play-off.

Willett was tied ninth 12 months ago and Spieth led from start to finish in 2015, details which have certainly not escaped the attention of McIlroy as he chases the win required to complete a career grand slam.

McIlroy’s best opening round in eight appearances was the 65 in 2011 which seemed to have set him up for a memorable victory, only for his four-shot lead to disappear with a closing 80.

Since then, the 27-year-old has failed to break 70 on the opening day and his best finish of fourth in 2015 was thanks to closing rounds of 68 and 66, which still left him six adrift of runaway winner Spieth.

“I think it’s always important to get off to a decent start in tournaments, but I think especially here you don’t want to feel like you’re playing catch-up on this golf course,” said McIlroy, who is aiming to join Jack Nicklaus, Woods, Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan and Gary Player in having claimed all four major titles.

“You feel like the more you force the issue, the more things can go wrong. You start to shoot at a few pins and you short-side yourself, leave yourself in spots that you don’t really want to. Then you can run up numbers pretty quickly.

“You don’t need to come out and shoot 65 on the first day, but at the same time you’re better off shooting something under par just to get yourself off to a nice start.”

To that end, McIlroy has taken on board advice from six-time Masters champion Nicklaus, who told him on Monday he had missed out on more green jackets by being too aggressive.

Since 2010, McIlroy has had more double bogeys or worse at Augusta than any other player under 50, a key factor in shooting a round of 77 or higher in six of his last seven starts.

“It’s just a matter of being smart, taking your medicine when you have to and moving on,” McIlroy added.

McIlroy has at least enjoyed more than 100 holes of practice and, in his words, a “relatively quiet build-up” as attention has been focused on the struggles of defending champion Willett, Spieth’s response to his collapse and the three straight wins of world number one Dustin Johnson.

“It’s a great place to be and we have some great memories around here,” said Willett, who carded a flawless closing 67 to take advantage of Spieth’s meltdown. “It’s nice to be back and we’ve had a few days of good work.

“It’s now about trying to get the game to where I can get back in position and hopefully do it again.”

Spieth has made it clear he is sick of questions about last year and his quadruple-bogey seven on the 12th in particular, which he followed with birdies on the 13th and 15th before a bogey on the 17th ended his chances.

“I’m proud of my entire round,” said the 23-year-old, who has finished second, first and second in his three Masters appearances. “I was proud of the way we fought that day too.

“I hope to have the opportunities that I had the last three years and that’s what I’m going for. This place has an interesting and incredible history in my life and I feel like I handle situations better out here than other places. I just feel kind of a calmness.”

Calmness is unfortunately not in the weather forecast, with winds of around 30mph predicted for the first two days which could favour the big hitters such as McIlroy, Johnson and Spain’s Jon Rahm.

Rahm is a contender to become the first Masters rookie to win a green jacket since 1979, when Fuzzy Zoeller defeated Tom Watson and Ed Sneed in a play-off.

Incidentally, Zoeller had been tied for the lead after day one.

ROUND ONE TEE-TIMES

0800 Daniel Summerhays, Russell Henley

0811 Trevor Immelman (Rsa), Brendan Steele, Jhonattan Vegas (Ven)

0822 Mike Weir (Can), Billy Hurley III, Scott Piercy

0833 Larry Mize, Brian Stuard, Stewart Hagestad (a)

0844 Soren Kjeldsen (Den), Kevin Chappell, Jim Furyk

0855 Sandy Lyle (Sco), Sean O’Hair, Scott Gregory (a) (Eng)

0906 Zach Johnson, Louis Oosthuizen (Rsa), Adam Hadwin (Can)

0917 Tommy Fleetwood (Eng), Gary Woodland, J.B. Holmes

0928 Adam Scott (Aus), Kevin Kisner, Andrew Sullivan (Eng)

0939 Francesco Molinari (Ita), Daniel Berger, Thomas Pieters (Bel)

1001 Fred Couples, Paul Casey (Eng), Kevin Na

1012 Russell Knox (Sco), Rickie Fowler, Hideki Matsuyama (Jpn)

1023 Branden Grace (Rsa), Brooks Koepka, Jeung-Hun Wang (Kor)

1034 Jordan Spieth, Martin Kaymer (Ger), Matthew Fitzpatrick (Eng)

1045 Phil Mickelson, Rafael Cabrera-Bello (Spa), Si Woo Kim (Kor)

1056 Justin Rose (Eng), Brandt Snedeker, Jason Day (Aus)

1107 Rod Pampling (Aus), William McGirt

1118 Mark O’Meara, Roberto Castro, Hudson Swafford

1129 Ian Woosnam (Wal), Brad Dalke (a), James Hahn

1140 Ross Fisher (Eng), Pat Perez, Byeong-Hun An (Kor)

1151 Jose-Maria Olazabal (Spa), Webb Simpson, Ryan Moore

1213 Ernie Els (Rsa), Jason Dufner, Bernd Wiesberger (Aut)

1224 Danny Willett (Eng), Matt Kuchar, Curtis Luck (a) (Aus)

1235 Vijay Singh (Fij), Emiliano Grillo (Arg), Toto Gana (a) (Chi)

1246 Angel Cabrera (Arg), Tyrrell Hatton (Eng), Henrik Stenson (Swe)

1257 Charl Schwartzel (Rsa), Steve Stricker, Mackenzie Hughes (Can)

1308 Charley Hoffman, Chris Wood (Eng), Yuta Ikeda (Jpn)

1319 Sergio Garcia (Spa), Lee Westwood (Eng), Shane Lowry (Irl)

1330 Bernhard Langer (Ger), Alex Noren (Swe), Patrick Reed

1341 Rory McIlroy (Nirl), Hideto Tanihara (Jpn), Jon Rahm (Spa)

1352 Marc Leishman (Aus), Bill Haas, Justin Thomas

1403 Bubba Watson, Dustin Johnson (below left), Jimmy Walker