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After 18 holes of the 2023 Masters, if you’re looking for star power there’s plenty of it at the top of the leaderboard.
Jon Rahm, Brooks Koepka, and Viktor Hovland each fired opening round -7 65’s to share the lead at Augusta National Golf Club on Thursday. Cameron Young and Jason Day are the lone players at -5, with Shane Lowry, Xander Schauffele, Adam Scott, Gary Woodland, defending champion Scottie Scheffler, Sam Burns, and amateur Sam Bennett all in the house at T6 and -4.
There were some surprises as well, as Rory McIlroy limped to an even par finish, while Dustin Johnson and Max Homa failed to take advantage of the scoring-friendly conditions finish -1.
Right now at DraftKings Sportsbook, Rahm is the favorite at +320. Scheffler despite being three strokes behind is the second choice at +450, with Koepka the third choice by the bookmakers at +650
Two players withdrew due to injury; Kevin Na after playing the first nine holes, and Will Zalatoris shortly before he was scheduled to tee off.
The players will be away tomorrow at 8:00 a.m. for the second round, but expect harsh weather to interrupt play, as finishing the round and setting a cut might be a challenge with the conditions and thunderstorms that are expected.