Jose Maria Olazabal Leads Masters at 60

Two‑time champion Jose Maria Olazabal, 60, opened Thursday’s Masters with a vintage performance that briefly put him atop the leaderboard. Birdying the second and third holes, the Spaniard reached the turn at two‑under, becoming only the fourth player 60 or older to do so in Masters history.

Olazabal’s precision on the short game drew particular praise; analysts described his chipping as “the best display ever seen” on Augusta’s demanding greens. He also gave a lesson in distance control to the tournament’s longest driver, South Africa’s Aldrich Potgieter, who struggled to match Olazabal’s overall execution.

A brief controversy erupted when a practice swing clipped a tree branch, prompting officials to review a possible illegal shot. No penalty was assessed, and Olazabal continued unimpeded.

A late‑day stumble dropped him off the top, but his round marked his fifth sub‑75 score in six Masters starts and keeps him in contention for the record as the oldest player to make the weekend cut.