Holder Zach Johnson opens defense with solid 70
AUGUSTA, Georgia (Reuters) - Champion Zach Johnson was happy to get back to business at Augusta National and pleased with a two-under-par 70 that put him two shots from the lead in the first round of the U.S. Masters.
"I couldn't wait for Thursday," Johnson said. "I was anxious. I was ready to go, probably last week. I wanted to put last year behind me.
Johnson won the 2007 Masters with a game-plan of laying up on every par-five hole and it paid off as he went 11 under par on those holes and held off Tiger Woods and South Africans Retief Goosen and Rory Sabbatini to claim his first major.
After a year of recognition and celebration over his Masters triumph, Johnson still got butterflies on Thursday.
"I don't usually get first-tee jitters on the tour," he said. "But I had them on number one, number two..."
Johnson made a 15-foot birdie at the first hole to get off on the right foot. At number five, he sank a 40-foot rollercoaster of a putt for another birdie.
"It broke three different ways. It was uphill, then it was downhill, and somehow it found the cup," he said.
He balanced two bogeys with two more birdies to complete the round that put him right in the thick of it. Last year he won with a total of one-over-par 289.
"I'm proud of myself that I put last year behind me," the 32-year-old from Iowa said. "The only thing I want to fall back on is that I executed when I needed to execute."
(Editing by Pritha Sarkar)
