By Frank Pingue
AUGUSTA, Georgia, April 9 (Reuters) – Former LIV Golf player Patrick Reed used a pair of front-nine eagles to grab a share of the early on-course lead at the Masters on Thursday at Augusta National where defending champion Rory McIlroy reached the turn two shots back and world number one Scottie Scheffler was about to tee off.
Reed took advantage of the par-fives as he converted a putt from the fringe at the par-five second hole to become the sixth player in Masters history to start off birdie-eagle in the first round. He added another eagle at the eighth where he rolled in a 56-foot putt.
The 2018 Masters champion, who left LIV Golf in January and plans to return to the PGA Tour later this season, was four under par through 11 holes and level with Sam Burns, who had five holes left in his round.
Tommy Fleetwood, who was playing alongside Reed, matched the best first-nine score in his Masters career by reaching the turn in four-under 32, and was one shot off the pace with Masters debutant Kristoffer Reitan of Norway.
McIlroy began his round in cool and breezy conditions, offset a birdie with a bogey and scrambled for pars on multiple occasions, including at the par-four fifth where he produced a sublime approach shot from deep in the woods to reach the green in two.
The 36-year-old Northern Irishman, aiming to become the fourth man to retain the Masters title and first since Tiger Woods in 2001-02, reached the turn on the heels of two consecutive birdies and was two under on the day.
Two-time U.S. Open champion Bryson DeChambeau, one of 10 LIV Golf players in the 91-man starting field and who briefly held the lead in the final round last year, hit a patron with his tee shot at the par-three sixth before getting up and down for par and was even par through 10 holes.
Scheffler, a two-times Masters winner looking to hold three majors at the same time after winning the PGA Championship and British Open last year, was going out in the penultimate group at 1:44 p.m. ET (1744 GMT) with Scot Robert MacIntyre and 2019 U.S. Open champion Gary Woodland.
Two-time champion Jose Maria Olazabal, playing in his 37th Masters, rolled back the years as the Spaniard became the fourth player in tournament history aged 60 or older to shoot two-under or better over his first nine holes of a Masters before dropping back.
(Reporting by Frank Pingue in Augusta, Georgia; Editing by Ken Ferris and Christian Radnedge)
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