Augusta, Apr 10 (PTI) There is a slice of India at the top, though it is only early hours around the front nine on the opening day of the 89th Masters at Augusta National.

An Indian origin player, Aaron Rai, who has played his way through the ranks to reach the highest level, is in the front at 4-under through nine holes.

Stephan Jaeger was 3-under through eighth, defending champion Scottie Scheffler was 2-under through five and Chilean Joaquin Niemann was also 2-under through six holes.

Rory McIlroy, Bryson DeChambeau and two other Indian origin players, Akshay Bhatia and Sahith Theegala, were to start later.

Debutant Rai is from Wolverhampton, England, but his grandparents from both his mother and father’s side were born in India.

Making his debut at the Masters, Rai has one win on the PGA Tour, two on the World Tour and three on the HotelPlanner Tour (the erstwhile Challenge Tour) and last year he played the Tour Championship on the PGA Tour.

“It’s amazing. Truly a dream come true. I’m sure every first timer at the Masters probably says the same thing. Obviously an extremely iconic event, something I would have grown up watching, something a lot of golfers would have grown up watching. Obviously it’s a privilege to be here,” Rai said earlier.

Talking about the Augusta National, he added, “I think firstly just how complex the golf course is, how much nuance there is, how different the course can play.” “We’ve had a range of conditions already in the last three (practice) days. Sunday was extremely firm, had a lot of rain on Monday (and) yesterday was extremely soft. Tuesday was kind of somewhere in between.” Bhatia has been drawn to play with McIlroy for the first two rounds. The third player in the group is the highly touted Swede Ludvig Aberg.

To be drawn into one of the marquee groups in only his second year at the Masters is an amazing experience.

However, the point to note is that Bhatia was third at the Players Championship, the biggest event outside of the Majors this year and the winner was McIlroy.

Theegala will play with Sepp Straka of Austria and Sam Burns of the USA.

Rai, the Indo-British player, will tee off in the company of Australian Cameron Smith and USA’s JT Poston.

Bhatia and Theegala, who have been signed up by Hero ahead of the Masters, said they are thrilled to be back.

Bhatia said, “Sahith and I are representing Indian culture and it is pretty awesome.” On his return to the Masters after a modest debut last year, Bhatia, said, “It’s simply nice coming a little more prepared and knowing what to expect. Last year was a cloud nine moment for me showing up. I look forward to playing the golf course again and learning more.” Theegala, who is accompanied by a huge team of family members, said, “The Indian culture is very important to me. I want to play golf in India and inspire over there as well. A lot of my family is still obviously over there.” “Honestly (I am) not too different of a golfer (from 2023). (But) I feel like I’ve gotten a little bit better, but still the same feelings and the love for the game and the shots that I see in my head are all playful shots.” “I know I still have a lot of time to reach my prime or my peak or whatever it is, but I feel very good. I’m looking forward to a good week. I think I have a good chance of having a nice week,” Theegala added.

Asked if he had picked three-time Masters winner and his mentor Phil Mickelson’s brains, Bhatia said, “Phil, no. I haven’t talked to him this week. I was going to call him this week just to see what to look out for. This year he’s kind of been doing his own thing, but I feel like I have a good grasp of the golf course.” A total of 95 players will tee up as former champion Vijay Singh pulled out due to an injury. Of the 95, there are 21 debutants, each hoping to emulate Fuzzy Zoeller, who was the last to do that back in 1979.

The two big stories to watch out for this week would be Scottie Scheffler trying to become only fifth man to win back-to-back Masters, McIlroy trying to win a maiden Masters in his 17th attempt and become only the sixth man in history to complete a career Grand Slam (winning all four Majors) in golf.

The third is Bernhard Langer, a former two-time Masters winner, making his final Masters appearance at the age of 67. PTI COR DDV