Amen corner

Akshay Bhatia: Akshay Bhatia and Aaron Rai, two of the three Indian-origin players at the 89th Masters, were on the front page of the leaderboard at the end of opening day, which had a lot of big names led by Justin Rose, who shot a 7-under 65.

Bhatia, who, with Sahith Theegala, signed up Hero as their new sponsor at the start of the week, and debutant Rai had put themselves in a good place to make the cut after a decent first day. Bhatia and Rai carded 2-under 70 and were T-7th (tied 7th), and Theegala shot even-par 72 to be -27 as the leaderboard had a bunch of big names. The top 50 and ties make the cut.

Twice runner-up at the Masters, the 44-year-old, Rose, a former US Open winner, playing his 20th Masters equalled his best start at the Masters with a 65. The round was bogey-free till he dropped a shot at the 18th which pulled him back from 8-under to 7-under, that was a brilliant display of putting with just 22 putts.