AUGUSTA, Ga. — Alvaro Quiros had played in two Masters entering this week and had two missed cuts and 15-over par to show for it.
Yesterday, the 28-year-old, long-hitting Spaniard shot a scalding 7-under 65 to tie Rory McIlroy for the lead after the opening round.
The 65 Quiros shot yesterday was 10 shots better than his previous best score at Augusta National. He’d shot 75 three times.
His play, along with a late surge from his two playing partners, Gary Woodland and Jhonattan Vegas, electrified the crowds as the sun set on Augusta.
“Walking the 18th hole, it looked like I was playing on Sunday afternoon in the lead group,” Quiros said.
“It was a really nice feeling. Normally, I’ve been watching those situations at home on TV sitting on my sofa.”
If Quiros keeps this up, he might be playing in the final group on Sunday afternoon for real.
But he insisted on not getting ahead of himself and kept his goals modest.
“My target [today] is to make the cut,” he said.
“It would be stupid to think about shooting 65 again when 75 was my best round here. It could be just one good round of golf. I want to think about the next shot I hit, which is the first tee [today].
“The first two years I came to the Masters thinking I can play well and shoot low and this was my main mistake, because it’s too tough,” Quiros went on.
“If I push myself to shoot 65 from first tee I will probably will be the same 75 or 76 I was shooting before.”
Quiros, who has one win on the European Tour, in Dubai earlier this year, kept his round alive by a fantastic bogey save on the 14th hole, where he hit a tree and had to punch out onto the fairway.
Quiros went on to birdie his final three holes.
In fact, Quiros and his partners shot a combined 12-under on the final six holes.
In an odd twist of fate, Quiros was with his family in the same mall where McIlroy and some friends were on Wednesday night buying a football to throw around.
“We were in the same mall by accident,” he said. “Rory was there buying a football. I watched Rory playing football in middle of parking lot. Did you see him? He was doing terrible.”
mcannizzaro.@nypost.com
