The most anticipated week of the year is here. Augusta opened its doors and gave the green light to the first major of the season. The most important and the most emblematic. The Unequaled Masters. The one who for this 2023 has a national presence twice, since Mito Pereira and Joaquín Niemann landed in Georgia.

Unfortunately for them, the opening day was not the best. For Pirque, because he was never able to get his hands on the pitch and was always fighting from the middle down. For that of Talagante, on the other hand, because he leaves with a mixed feeling, since he threatened the leaders, but found himself in 26th position. Tomorrow they will have to reverse the situation, but a detail no less threatens them and all those who walk on Augusta: the always dreaded rain. And it is that, despite the fact that today it has never taken off with force, the downpour has always flirted with the ground. For the weekend, there will be no escape.

But on this first lap, the light drizzle that fell was a helping factor for the leaders. This allowed us to have a very wet field, with green vegetables very slow which promotes shooting control . It’s not for nothing that there are three leaders with -7 and more than 35 players with cards under par.

Joaquín Niemann is one of the latter group. The two-time PGA winner had a positive Thursday, but it ended worse than it started. Even “Amen Corner” had a perfect game, but in this legendary streak for golf fans, the chance to be among the best vanished.

Until the start of hole 12, he had accumulated four birdies (two, seven, eight and nine) , fighting for T4. Ideal position to continue adding, but it is well known that this seminal trilogy is one of the most complex sections in the field.

There the field punished him with consecutive bogeys on 12 and 13 , including a shot that fell into the creek at that last flag. The blow of losing the point didn’t slip out of his mind quickly and He was punished again on the 15th and 18th . Only positive point, he took advantage of the 16th (one of the holes with the best numbers of the day) to stay under par. It will arrive on Saturday in the T26, with one under the demands of the field and six shots from the leaders.

Mito Pereira, meanwhile, experienced very different feelings when he first appeared at the Augusta Masters. The pitch greeted him with shots into the bunker and a double bogey at first flag almost giving her a warning that Augusta is a beautiful place, but scary at the same time.

After that came a pass with applause and grimaces, since in the three he made his first birdie, but in the seven he again suffered a double bogey. Again the bunkers attacked him, with two shots he had to take on the sand.

After that there was a mini comeback with back-to-back birdies on 13 and 14, ruling out some very important shots before a Friday when the chance to make the cut will have to be played. This is why the penalty was deplored in the par four of 18. Finally, he left the field with +2 on his bests, the same numbers Tiger Woods got on Thursday.

Jon Rahm, Brooks Koepka and Viktor Hovland They watch the Chileans from above. The Trident shares the lead thanks to spectacular rounds of seven under par. The latter, apparently with a romance with Augusta National, since he arrived wearing a shirt with drawings of azaleas, paying homage to the characteristic flower that names hole 13. We will see if tomorrow he continues to shine under the rain.