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Golf

05th Apr 2018

Rookie Satoshi Kodaira produces the week’s first moment of brilliance at Augusta

Matthew Gault

Satoshi Kodaira

Short game skills.

With its treacherous bunkers and undulating greens, your short game needs to be razor-sharp to shoot a low round at Augusta.

Luckily for Japan’s Satoshi Kodaira, playing in his first Masters, his bunker play seems to be in tip-top shape.

Impeccably judged, Kodaira really thumped the ball out of the trap and let the contours on the green do the work, bringing the ball down to the cup, even stopping on the edge for a split second to give it that photo finish. A moment to savour.

The 28-year-old earned his ticket to the Masters by winning twice on the Japan Golf Tour last year. At the time of writing, he is -1 through 12 on what is a tough day for scoring, so it certainly doesn’t seem like he’ll just be making up the numbers.

Below are some other highlights from the early stages of the opening round, featuring 55-year-old Vijay Singh, who won his green jacket all the way back in 2000, topping the leaderboard for a while.