By David Kraft
ESPN.com
Thursday, April 5

AUGUSTA, Ga. -- As par-3s go at Augusta National, the sixth is considered the easiest. The 12th hole and 16th hole are dangerous, thanks to water and undulating greens. The 205-yard fourth hole is uphill and well-bunkered.

No. 6 at a glance
Average 3.152
Rank 5
Eagles 0
Birdies 9
Pars 62
Bogeys 19
Double-bogeys 2
Others 0

During Thursday's opening round, the sixth hole played a key role in allowing Chris DiMarco, Angel Cabrera and Chris Perry to jump to the first page of the leaderboard.

All three birdied the hole, which was the toughest of the par-3s and the fifth-toughest hole overall. The rest of the top 10 -- Steve Stricker, Phil Mickelson, Lee Janzen, John Huston, James Driscoll, Miguel Angel Jimenez and Kirk Triplett -- all managed par.

The 180-yard hole features an elevated tee, with one of the bigger greens on the course. The green, however, slopes dramatically from front to back, putting a premium on pulling the right club.

On Thursday, Cabrera hit a 7-iron to three feet and made the putt. DiMarco hit a 5-iron to the back edge and made a tricky putt. And Perry hit a 6-iron to 2½ feet.

Others who made birdie at No. 6 Thursday were Fred Couples, Jesper Parnevik, amateur Mikko Ilonen, Toshi Izawa, Mark Calcavecchia and David Toms.

It wasn't particularly kind to Tommy Aaron and Aaron Baddeley, both of whom took double-bogey.





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ALSO SEE:
DiMarco Masters first round at Augusta

First-round hole-by-hole statistics