We have another Hollywood playing group up next.

Akshay Bhatia is making his second Masters start and put together his best ever round at Augusta yesterday: a two-under 70 that keeps him right in the mix. The 23-year-old has already won twice on the PGA Tour: at the Reno–Tahoe Open in 2023 and the Texas Open last year.

A year after finishing solo-second in his Masters (and major championship) debut, Ludvig Ǻberg is again part of the Masters story. In 2024, Ǻberg’s putting was the statistical fuel for his success — he led the tournament in strokes gained on the greens. On Thursday, his driving excelled: Ǻberg was the only player in the field to gain two or more strokes with shots off the tee. Ǻberg also hit 15 of 18 greens in regulation on the day, one shy of the field leader (Harris English).

After a first-round 73 here a year ago, Ǻberg is 12-under-par in his last four Masters rounds. While no player has won in his Masters debut since Fuzzy Zoeller in 1979, plenty of Augusta sophomores have done it recently, including Charl Schwartzel, Spieth and Danny Willett since 2010.

And then there’s Rory McIlroy. For more than 14 holes yesterday, it looked like McIlroy was fully exorcising his early-week Augusta demons. His 33 on the first nine was his best in the opening round of a Masters since 2011. When he walked off the 14th tee, he was four-under and bogey-free for his round, with a par 5 left to play as he chased down his longtime Ryder Cup teammate, Rose.

The demons came back roaring on the 15th green. McIlroy hit his chip from behind the putting surface too hard. His ball rolled into the water, eventually resulting in a double-bogey seven. Two holes later at 17, he carded a six, giving him his first Masters round with more than one double bogey or worse in 11 years.

This is the seventh consecutive year McIlroy has been six shots back or more after Round 1 of the Masters. Only one of the last 19 Masters winners has been more than four shots off the lead after Round 1, and only two men in history have come from seven back to win — Faldo in 1990 and Tiger Woods in 2005.