Before the most prestigious tournament in golf, the 81st edition of the Masters, even teed off today there were already two unusual events that took place. On Wednesday the annual Par-3 contest got canceled and the number one golfer in the world, Dustin Johnson suffered an injury in an unusual accident. Then the first round ended with a surprising player at the top of the leaderboard.
Par-3 contest canceled
First the annual Masters Par-3 contest, which has gone on since 1960, got canceled for the first time in event history. Only two players, Webb Simpson and Bubba Watson, were able to finish the nine-hole contest before it was canceled because of serve weather. It was actually the second time this week that the course got closed because of the weather, as earlier on Wednesday players had to stop their practice rounds due to the weather.
Dustin Johnson's injury
On Wednesday night, Dustin Johnson suffered a back injury. Johnson took what would turn out to be a serious fall on the bare wooden stairs in the house he was renting for the tournament.
Johnson's manager and trainer confirmed the story, saying that Johnson was going downstairs to move his car from the garage and slipped on three wooden steps. Johnson had been remaining immobile, icing his back and taking inflammatory medication to try to play. He showed up at Augusta today, visited trainers and warmed up to try to give it a go. However, he ultimately withdrew from the event since he could not make a full swing. Johnson is only the second number one ranked player to not play at the Masters, joining Tiger Woods in 2014.
Wrapping up day one of the event
Dustin Johnson's injury is a big loss, as he was the favorite going into the first major. With the first day of the Masters seeing swirling winds that reached up to 40 mph, it would be interesting to see who would take advantage of the best player in the world being absent.
As everyone would have predicted, that player turned out to be 40-year-old American Charley Hoffman. He had one of the greatest opening rounds in the history of the event, shooting a 7-under 65. Hoffman had a 4-shot lead over William McGirt, who also turned in a surprising performance, for the largest opening round lead in the Masters since 1955. Englishman Lee Westwood is in third place at 2-under and after that there are only eight other golfers who shot under par, including former major winners Phil Mickelson, Justin Rose and Jason Dufner.