Brian Harman rides Texas Open momentum into Masters contention

The 89th Masters Tournament teed off on Thursday morning, with many of the world’s best already playing well at Augusta National Golf Club. An unsuspecting name finds himself in contention as Brian Harman carded a 1-under 71 during his opening round.

Harman came into Augusta National hot, having won last week’s Valero Texas Open.

Following his opening 18, Harman detailed how his performance in San Antonio prepared him for this week.

“I feel like it’s a pretty good preparation for this place,” Harman said. “You get into some spots where you’re like, a great shot with a wedge here gives me 40 feet, and you end up with some spots like that here if you get out of position. I think that course is a great warmup for here.”

Harman kicked off his morning nicely, carding birdies on the first and third holes. He gave one back on the par-4 4th. However, he steadied himself to go out at 35. The 2023 Open champion then picked up another par-breaker on the par-5 13th.

But he immediately found trouble on the following hole, carding a double-bogey six on 14. That dropped him to even par on his round. But the Georgia native calmed himself and closed with a string of pars and another birdie on 17 to enter the clubhouse at 1-under par.

Conditions at Augusta National are playing pretty difficult during Thursday’s opening round. The wind has particularly played a factor for most of the field on the back nine.

“In this hill country, it just flips around a bunch. It started kind of east-southeast and then was supposed to end up southwest. Especially on that back nine, I played three different wedge shots totally different directions all downwind. It can get in that little valley down there and do some funny stuff.”

PGA Tour veteran Justin Rose is on fire today. He is 6-under par through 10 holes and has a two-shot lead over Scottie Scheffler and a host of others.

If Brian Harman wants to contend into the weekend, he will likely need to shoot in the 60s on Friday.