April 7, 2011
AUGUSTA, Georgia - Stanford junior David Chung carded an even par 72 in the opening round of the Masters on Thursday, leaving him tied for 31st place on the leader board.
Chung, who qualified for the event with a runner-up finish in last year's U.S. Amateur Championship, was even through his first nine holes. Playing with 1988 Masters champion Sandy Lyle and Germany's Alex Cejka, Chung erased a bogey at the par-3 sixth hole with a birdie four on the par-five eighth.
Chung went to two under par with birdies on holes No. 13 and 15, but finished even par after making bogies on the 17th and 18th holes.
"The course didn't play that hard today because there were some receptive pins and there wasn't much wind," said Chung after his round. "I got a nice tee time this morning. I was fortunate for that. The greens were good. The one thing I did very well today is I birdied three of the four par 5s, which if you can score out here -- kind of play it safe and go for another birdie on the par 4s, but played the rest even."
Chung said he had his first Masters moment on hole No. 7.
"I think it struck me when I hit my drive a little bit right on 7 and it kicked down into the fairway, but I had 230 yards to the hole on 7, and that green is very shallow, as you know, and I was approaching my shot, and I said, where among those 5,000 people behind the green -- you couldn't see anything but the people. The flag was pretty much hidden, as well, and I hit a nice shot up there like 15 feet. So that was my Masters moment for today.
"It was surreal out there. I mean, I've never played in front of a crowd this big, and the first hole I had a chip shot, and the crowd was standing about four feet from me, like close enough where the chip shot actually could have hit them. It's very different from playing a college tournament where the only one following you is a college coach. In that regards it was much different, but at the same time it was really cool because if you hit a good drive or a good shot, then everybody -- you had the oohs and the aahs and it was very rewarding, as well."