Augusta Gets Even With Paulson (76)

Dennis Paulson said luck played a big part Thursday after he had taken the first-round lead in his first trip to the Masters. It played a role Friday as well, when Paulson couldn’t get any putts to fall and hit just enough bad shots to balloon to a four-over-par 76.

Paulson, who was born in San Gabriel, went to Costa Mesa High, grew up playing public golf courses and attended San Diego State, said nerves never played a role Friday. He might be forgiven a little shakiness, considering first-round major leaders often disappear from the leaderboard as quickly as free beer at a golf writers’ convention.

“I had a great attitude today,” said Paulson, who lives in Vista. “I didn’t put myself in good positions, but I didn’t force things.”

Paulson’s mother and several friends and associates are following him here.

“He was just relaxing, watching TV and playing with Dillon [his son, 2],” Paulson’s mother, Lorna Link, said about Thursday night. “It was just like any other night.”

Paulson, at even-par 144, started with bogeys on the first two holes Friday, the first after what he thought might have been a perfect tee shot caught the lip of a fairway bunker. He made his first putt of consequence on the par-three fourth hole, a 20-footer to save par.

He said he hit only about three bad shots, but failed to take advantage of the par fives, taking two bogeys. Thursday, he was five under on those holes.

The greens also gave him fits Friday. On No. 7, his approach shot cleared the putting surface on the fly, then spun back 40-50 feet off the front edge.

“I’m more confused now than yesterday,” Paulson said about the greens.

He said he was disappointed, but probably won’t lose any sleep over it.

“It’s just a round of golf,” he said. “If we try to make as big a deal of each round as you guys [reporters] do, we’d start playing like you guys.”

No first-round leader has won the tournament since Ben Crenshaw in 1984.

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Paulson, on how intense he used to be: “I used to weigh 175 pounds and bench-press 300. Now I like to say I weigh 300 and bench-press 175.”

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Arnold Palmer’s Masters, rather than ending with a bang, ended with a series of duds. He needed four shots to get out of the bunker at No. 18, got an eight and finished with an 82, leaving him 16 over and out of the weekend’s play. He last made the cut here in 1983.

Standing beneath the towering live oak in front of the clubhouse, Palmer told family and friends, “I’m about ready to check out.”

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U.S. amateur champion David Gossett was the only one of six amateurs who made the cut of 148, four over. He shot 71 and is at 146. Aaron Baddeley, the winner of the Australian Open who was given a special exemption into the field, shot a 72 after bogeying the 18th hole and missed the cut by one.

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Does anyone see a trend here? Tiger Woods, who is three over par, has played holes 10, 11 and 12 in seven over. . . . Greg Norman made the biggest comeback, from a first-round 80 to a second-round 68. Norman birdied the last hole to make the cut by a shot. This was one day after Norman had told reporters, “There is no wind in my sails.” He must have picked up a gust. . . . Tommy Aaron, 63, added a 74 to his opening 72 and became the oldest player to have made the cut at the Masters. Aaron won here in 1973, two years before Woods was born.

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Loren Roberts shot a 69 and is only four shots behind leader David Duval. But Roberts said he was more impressed with Jack Nicklaus’ round of 70.

“How can you not consider him a serious contender on this golf course?” Roberts said. “You’re talking about the greatest golf mind probably that we’ve ever had. I think Jack can think his way around here and be competitive.”