Singapore golfer Hiroshi Tai left grinning after sparkling Masters debut

AUGUSTA – Everything you wanted to know about Hiroshi Tai’s first day as a Masters golfer was written on his face later. He was grinning. Just couldn’t stop. It was a grin of relief, delight, pride. It was a grin he deserved after a first round in his inaugural Masters which had been long, hot, testing but sparkling.

“I did a good job mentally,” he modestly told The Straits Times, but the scoreboard told a more persuasive tale. (A) for Amateur, it noted beside the Singaporean’s name. Ranked T38th among the best professionals in the world in a field of 95 after a one-over 73. Just imagine.

Pause for a minute. Tai’s on the same score as former Masters champion Jordan Spieth and Xander Schauffele, who won two Majors last year. He’s three shots better than the next best amateur. One shot better than Brooks Koepka. Two shots better than Jon Rahm. Yes, it’s only day one and Majors only get harder and disaster lurks and Justin Rose the tournament leader is eight shots ahead, but this was a round worth a wide grin.

Even his coach at Georgia Tech, Bruce Heppler, who walked all 18 holes beside his pupil, was wearing one. After the 17th hole, asked to grade Tai’s round, Heppler gave him an “A”. After Tai delighted the ring of fans at the 18th by birdieing it, Heppler told this correspondent, “I am changing that grade”.

Then he grinned, too.

“A-plus,” he said.

No one was getting ahead of themselves, just enjoying a polished debut by a young man who went further than we thought in every way. He’s only 1.78m, yet averaged 301 yards off the tee. It wasn’t a perfect round, but it was in every way a brave one.

There are great basketballers who vomited before every big game. Tai simply began his day by taking a “few deep breaths” before his round. This course intimidates even those who know it. This leaderboard shines with Major winners. Golf requires a loose, limber body but nerves start cementing the joints. Tai remembers hearing his name being called on the first tee box and said “luckily I hit it in the middle and hit a good one”. It was 11.50am or so and his debut had commenced.

The crowds invaded the course like a delighted army, unfolding chairs and sinking beers by the gallon. No “QUIET” signs were held up. No board at any hole declared if it was a par four or three and how long it was. This is the Masters, you just better know your manners and your geography.

On the par-five second hole, Tai’s drive flew right and found the pine straw behind a tree. Welcome to Augusta. He deliberated, punched out, wedged and parred. If his heart was racing you couldn’t tell from his measured walk.

At the par-four fifth hole, the Singaporean disappeared into a bunker so deep you couldn’t see him. He extricated himself but for his third shot still had 45 metres left and produced a chip that flew, bounded, rolled and magically stopped a foot from the hole.

Par.

“Sweet,” said a watching Heppler.

A Major is mentally exhausting. The crowd press in. The cameras stare. The wind cross-examines. The greens look oiled. And the cost of a loose shot is mean.

And so almost everyone hiccups. Koepka had six bogeys. Rahm had five. Surely Tai would have his troubles too. He had birdied the eighth hole and was one-under when the day seemed to turn.

The back nine of the Masters is harder and louder. There’s a buzz at Amen Corner, in anticipation perhaps of dreams that will sink into the creeks and ponds. At the 11th, Tai drove into the rough, was short of the green and bogeyed. One tiny mistake it was. Then a bigger one followed.

At the par-five 13th he could have wedged his third shot onto the green blindfolded after a few beers. Except with eyes open and sober he hits the ball onto the bank and into the water. “I mishit it. I probably wasn’t fully committed.” Double bogey. Now, suddenly, alarmingly, he’s two over par.

Players hesitate after errors, they overthink and second guess and let go of momentum. Rory McIlroy, the sentimental favourite, is four under and then double bogeys the 15th and then the 17th. Mistakes compound, one leads to a series, this is the ugly truth of sport.

But this is why Tai deserves applause, this is why he said at the end “I felt pretty good about how I played all day”. Because after his error on the 13th, his next five holes produce four pars and one birdie. Always we’re trying to define character in sport and here it was.

Denny McCarthy, who played alongside Tai had a one-under 71 and Charl Schwartzel, the third member, had a two-over 74. On April 11, this trio resume again, men pitted against nature and themselves and the leaderboard rather than against each other.

The Masters cannot be predicted, nor a player’s round forecasted. Where Tai will travel in the second round is unknown, but where he has taken us is profound. The top 50 and ties will make it to the weekend and a Singapore amateur has incredibly opened up that possibility.

And just the thought of it is enough to make us grin.