Amen Corner lives up to billing in opening round

Known as the most famous three holes in all of golf, Amen Corner at Augusta National captured its fair share of strokes on Thursday afternoon during the opening round of the Masters. 

Holes 11 through 13 are known as the toughest stretch of any Masters round, and with good reason, as most of the golfers in the field exited with a few bruises and inflated numbers on the scorecard. 

Miguel Angel Jimenez was in sole possession of the lead before teeing off on 11, and played the stretch of holes 3 over thanks to a bogey on 11 and a double on 12. He finished at 1-under, three strokes behind the leader. 

Adam Scott also approached 11 with the lead, but promptly put his tee shot on 12 into Rae's Creek, earning him double bogey. 

Jason Dufner's entire tournament may have been sabotaged on 13. He walked away from Amen Corner with a quadruple bogey on 13, launching him to a first round 8-over par. Brandt Snedeker, Fred Couples, Louis Oosthuizen, and Jimmy Walker also took damage during the stretch. 

The par-4 11th was the toughest hole on the course Thursday, playing an average of 4.474 strokes per player, with only 30 percent of golfers finding the green in regulation. 

The par-3 12th was equally daunting, and posted the second-toughest scores for the day. It played at an average of 3.423 strokes per player, with just 43 percent finding the green off the tee, and nine players posting double bogey or worse. 

The par-5 13th, normally the easiest of the three, still posed problems on Thursday, with 13 players posting scores over par. 

Playing the three hole stretch at even par on Thursday gave any golfer lucky enough to pull it off a .608 stroke advantage over the rest of the field, something leader Bill Haas benefited from and then some. Haas birdied 13, and holds a one-stroke lead over the field after 18 holes.