Northwestern University Athletics
Dillon Dougherty Makes History at Augusta
4/6/2006 12:00:00 AM | Men's Golf
April 6, 2006
AUGUSTA, Ga. -- Senior Dillon Dougherty became the first Northwestern golfer to play in the Masters Tournament as an amateur on Thursday. He carded an opening-round 82 on perhaps the biggest stage in golf and on one of the most difficult courses in the world, Augusta National Golf Club. Former Northwestern star Luke Donald shot a 74 and is tied for 37th place.
Dougherty battled early nerves, bogeying four of his first five holes, but settled down to par six of the next eight. He shot 41 on both the front and back nine, and currently sits in a tie for 85th place (with Mark O'Meara and Shaun Michael) at 10-over par.
The California native was 5-over par when he entered "Amen Corner." Amen Corner encompasses hole Nos. 11, 12 and 13 and was made famous by Arnold Palmer during his 1958 Masters victory. In the final round, Palmer chipped in for par at the 12th hole and then eagled the 13th en route to his first major championship.
Dougherty made a fairly successful first trip around the treacherous Amen Corner. He hit a solid approach into No. 11 and two-putted for par. Dougherty and Kevin Marsh were the only amateurs to par the 11th hole which played as the hardest hole on day one.
On the 145-yard, par-3 12th hole, Dougherty missed the green long and bogeyed. He went for the green in two on the par-5 13th, but his shot caught Rae's Creek that runs in front of the green. After taking a penalty drop, he hit a nice pitch to several feet short of the hole and converted the putt to save par.
Dougherty's 1-over par total through Amen Corner tied Clay Ogden and Marsh for the lowest total by an amateur.
Among the five amateurs in the field, the 33-year-old Marsh leads the pack with a 7-over 79. Edoardo Molinari and Brian McElhinney fired 8-over 80s, while BYU's Clay Ogden has an 11-over 83.
Like Dougherty, Donald had identical scores on the front and back nine. He made two birdies and three bogeys for a total of 37 on the front nine. On the backside, Donald parred eight of the nine holes -- making a bogey on No. 11. The ninth-ranked golfer in the world is seven strokes out of the lead. He finished third in his Masters debut a year ago.
Vijay Singh is the clubhouse leader at 5-under par. Defending champion Tiger Woods is five strokes back.
Dougherty tees off at 10:51 p.m. CDT on Friday. Donald is scheduled take the tee at 12:08 p.m.
After the completion of the second round, the field will be cut to the lowest 44 scores and ties, plus those within 10 strokes of the leader.
Television coverage on Friday will be provided by the USA Network from 3 to 6 p.m. CT with a replay from 7 to 10 p.m. Live scoring can be found by logging on to The Masters web site.
