The Masters: Sooner Sophomore Brad Dalke Shoots 1st-Round 78
By Chip Rouse
Oklahoma golf sophomore Brad Dalke has played a number of great courses in his time playing competitive golf, but none more memorable or prestigious as Augusta National Golf Club, home of The Masters.
Dalke shot a six-over-par score of 78 on Thursday in the opening round of the 2017 edition of The Masters, one of golf’s biggest and most prized tournaments historically and every year.
Playing as an amateur, Dalke’s round – which was played under unusually cool temperatures and a steady gusty wind that reached up to 35 miles per hour at times at the historic par-72, 7,435-yard Augusta National track – included one birdie, five bogeys and one double bogey.
Dalke played in a threesome group on Thursday that included PGA pro James Hahn and 1991 Masters champion Ian Woosnam.
“This place is so awesome…to be able to represent myself, my family and the University of Oklahoma mean so much.” –OU sophomore Brade Dalke, playing as an amateur in this year’s Masters
To put the OU sophomore’s round in perspective, only 11 players shot under par on the opening day due largely to the playing conditions.
“It means so much to me to be able to play in The Masters as an amateur,” Dalke said in a press release posted on the University of Oklahoma athletic website. “This place is so awesome, and to be able to represent myself, my family and the University of Oklahoma means so much.”
Dalke is one of five amateur golfers competing in this year’s Master’s, the 81st year the historic tournament has been held. Among the five amateurs, he is the only one currently playing on a an NCAA Division I golf team.
Dalke earned an invitation to play in this year’s Masters by finishing as the runner-up in the 2016 U.S. Amateur tournament. This is his second professional tournament as an amateur. He qualified for the Valero Texas Open played last April, which was won by Charlie Hoffman, the leader after Day 1 of this year’s Masters. Hoffman tops the Masters’ leaderboard with an impressive first-round score of seven-under-par 65.
The field for this year’s Masters will be cut down after Friday’s second round before the final two rounds on Saturday and Sunday.
Former OU golfer and PGA touring pro Charlie Coe competed in 19 Masters tournaments as an amateur and holds a number of Masters’ amateur records. He won two U.S. Amateur titles (1949 and 1958). The golf practice facility at Oklahoma is named in Coe’s honor. He died in 2001 at the age of 77.