Bryson DeChambeau admits Masters ‘par-67’ claim was wrong despite leading Scottie Scheffler

A fast breaker downhill and from left to right, and he lags it down safely for a par. Woods will resume his round at one-under on the 14th tee early tomorrow morning Augusta time.

That is all for today. Back for round two around 1.30pm UK time tomorrow.

That signals the close of play, though players are welcome to finish the hole they are on if they so choose.

Hojgaard birdied the par five 15th to reach five-under.

Homa, Day and Woods all have mid-range birdie putts on the par five 13th.

This is a short-game exhibition from Woods as he conjures up a par from the pine straw beyond the 12th. We’re seeing every shot in his bag this afternoon as a result of the stiff breeze. He will be delighted to be on the 13th tee one-under, with two par fives ahead of him.

He makes a three at the ninth, and turns in 33. He might have time to squeeze one more hole in before darkness falls. Fleetwood well-positioned as he hits the back nine.

Homa, Day and Woods are trying to get through as many holes as possible, but are having to back off shots to wait for gusts to die down. Homa and Day go with eight-iron at the 12th, with Day missing left and Homa short (but dry). Woods punches a seven-iron forward, but it skips beyond the green to the pine straw. Homa is rolling along nicely at four-under.

His leg might be crooked, his back might be fused, but his hands and nerves are as good as ever judging by this chip shot from short of the 11th. A less confident chipper may have tried to scuttle one in low, but Woods flew his well on to the green through the air, before it checked and took a seat within inches of the hole. Anyone who has played golf knows how hard this shot is.

He found the green in two on the par five 13th, and lagged his putt down the hill well enough. Hojgaard is now five-under and third on his own, but he has just hit a slicing drive down the right of the 14th.

But he has made back-to-back birdies at the seventh and eighth to move to two-under par. He has a middling Augusta record, but certainly has the ball-striking skills to thrive.

Shows a delicate touch from the greenside bunker to the right of the green, leaving himself an uphill par putt from four feet which he rolls in. If Woods can make a par at the next, he will be a great position at one-under with some scoring holes ahead of him.

Like they do not want to spin. So you get some that I hit and the ball just goes forever. Prime example on the last there, [the ball] wants to go forever. You don’t know when you’re going to get them.

The numbers are kind of OK but there is only so much you can do with the set I’ve got. I like the set. I have actually been hitting them well. Just having two or three [shots] a round where it’s like, that is not right.

Our chief sports writer Oliver Brown was keeping an eye on Sergio Garcia today, a man he describes as being “pathologically desperate for attention”. You can read his piece in full here.

He missed the target a long way left, but his sand wedge did the rest. A well-judged pitch shot for an unlikely two on a treacherous hole, and Hojgaard joins Willett at four-under.

A rock solid par for Woods back at the ninth, and he reaches the turn in one-under 35. Neat and tidy.

It was pretty challenging out there, my thoughts coming into today were that I was just going to try and stay patient out there and take advantage of some holes where I could.

It’s so challenging around this place when the wind gets this high because it blows in so many different directions.

You’ve got to really manage your way around the golf course which I thought I did a really good job of out there.

Listened in to DeChambeau’s press conference following his 65. Inevitably he was asked about his comment a few years ago regarding Augusta being a “par-67” for him and whether “time had changed his perspective” on that.

“I mean, yeah, sure,” he replied. “Again, the comment was definitely misinterpreted. I said it, and I respect people’s opinions on it. For me, I have a level of respect for this golf course that’s a little bit different than a couple years ago, and clearly today was a great test of golf, and I was able to conquer a very difficult golf course today. Regarding the 67 comment, you know, you mess up. I’m not a perfect person. Everybody messes up. You learn from your mistake, and that was definitely one.”

The Californian was also asked “what phase” he was in at the moment, after his “Mad Scientist phase” and his “bulky basher phase”. “The golf phase,” he replied. “I’d say the golf phase for sure. Trying to be the best golfer I can be.” 

Will be interesting to see whether DeChambeau can keep pace with Scheffler tomorrow.

Tyrrell Hatton and Nicolai Hojgaard have both reached the turn at three-under, firmly on the first page of the leaderboard. They will have to return and finish their second rounds tomorrow. Less than 90 minutes until sunset in Augusta.

Woods is quietly piecing together a solid opening round in the trickiest conditions of the day. He found the par five eighth in two and made his birdie to move to one-under. Then Woods nails a drive straight down the middle at the ninth. He looks to be swinging with freedom and rhythm.

Scottie Scheffler made his 66 look ominously straightforward. There is much substance to the thesis that if he were a more assured putter, he would conquer all before him. He missed a very makeable eagle effort at the 15th and left an attempt from nine feet at the 17th in the jaws. It is far easier to see him backing up this round of casual brilliance than it is to envisage Bryson DeChambeau shooting another 65. Rarely has the game witnessed somebody so metronomic from tee to green.

Both show their class around the 18th green to clean up for par; Scheffler with a two-putt from 70 feet and McIlroy with a tasty chip from over the back edge. 

It is a solid one-under 71 for McIlroy, but it is made to look average by Scheffler’s sparkling six-under 66. The favourite and World No 1 is poised, one shot behind Bryson DeChambeau.

Perhaps Day is a Madness fan, because he has gone for the baggy look.

Dinner will taste sour for Fitzpatrick after three bogeys in his last five holes, and drops back to one-under. Not a bad score, but Fitzpatrick did not capitalise on the scoreable part of the course. Tough day for debutant Nick Dunlap, who finishes on five-over. 

Back down the 18th, Scheffler’s drive found the first fairway bunker, and he just about finds the front edge. A very testing two-putt from there.

McIlroy is in the next bunker, and he knocks the teeth out his second shot and sees his ball bound over the green.

It was another beautifully dissected hole from Scheffler, but the putt does not drop. Rory McIlroy missed the fairway left and had to play a rope hook from the trees, which meant he could not stop his ball from tumbling over the back of the green. No future from there and it costs him a shot. Back to one-under. 

He spun his third back into the water on the 15th, and he failed to get up and down from the drop zone. That is a double bogey seven that drops him to level par. On his first Masters appearance, some inexperience showed there as he failed to fire the ball beyond the hole.

He splashes out from the front bunker at the seventh to save par after missing the fairway left.

It has been a scruffy 45 minutes or so from Matt Fitzpatrick, who has now dropped back to two-under after 17 having been four-under on the 14th tee.

No mistake from close-range and Scheffler is now right on DeChambeau’s shoulder at six-under par. He has also just stood up and striped his drive down the left side of the fairway at the 17th. No sign of weakness at the moment.

He puts another par on the card after negotiating the sixth in conservative fashion. He remains level par. I don’t think he will be dissatisfied by this start.

The writing looks on the wall, even at this early stage. Scheffler has his ball on the string with the irons, and fires his tee shot to within four feet on the par three 16th. McIlroy’s tee shot is also a good one, leaving him about 10 feet for birdie.

But it is another step in the right direction from the World No 1, and he is now second on his own at two-under. Two behind DeChambeau. McIlroy has to settle for a par on the par five after fanning his second shot way right.

He hoists a long iron into orbit from the top of the hill on the par five, and he will have around 10 feet for eagle. This has been a serene opening round considering the fever pitch level of expectation on Scheffler. On the same score as Scheffler is Will Zalatoris, but his in a horrid spot long and right of the 17th.

This has been a strong fightback from a slow start. McIlroy is now two-under and walking to the tee on a par five, and there is a scoreable pin at the 16th. McIlroy has a real chance to post a score in the 60s.

He has struck a couple of approach shots that have been right on line but long, and that costs him a shot on the par three fourth. Still, level par after four is no disaster.

He has just chipped in on the par four fifth to move to two-under. By his own frank admission, Hatton is not a fan of Augusta.

He fanned his second into the par five 13th out to the right, and it looked destined to find Rae’s Creek. However, it clinged on to the bank, and from there he had an uphill chip to set up a simple birdie. Scheffler moves to four-under, and he could easily be two or three worse off. A holed bunker shot and a ball avoiding water fortuitously.

McIlroy sees a birdie putt slide by on the same hole, and he remains one-under.

He joins Danny Willett at four-under after birdies on the 11th, 12th and 13th. What a day to be a golf fan in Yorkshire. Matt Fitzpatrick is hunting his second major after winning the US Open at Brookline two years ago.

Bad news for Hovland fans, through. He has made a double bogey at the 10th, and falls back to two-under.

I feel all right. I think I might take the next six months off. It’s completely unexpected. Sometimes that happens. You make a couple of birdies and your mind starts thinking, ‘alright, I can do it’. It was nice to keep chilled out. Because it was playing tough, probably really made us concentrate that little bit more.

Nice finish there and them last four holes to come back, and instead of posting an alright score of level-ish, which would have been an amazing achievement, to shoot 68, yeah, really happy.

Just when it looked like Scheffler was up against it, he produces an exquisite moment of magic. For all his tracer-like iron play, Scheffler is also blessed with a pair of educated hands around the greens. He splashes out from the back bunker to the edge of the green, and his ball runs out and strikes the pin before dropping in. Scheffler now three-under with two par fives to come in the final six holes.

McIlroy, to his credit, does not allow himself to become distracted, and also rolls in his birdie putt to move to one-under. Two contrasting birdies.

Showed a delicate touch with a bump and run from beyond the green, and he has smoked a drive down the short par four third. A positive start all in all for Woods.

The same can be said for Will Zalatoris, who has birdied the par five 13th to reach three-under.

They both had to work hard for their fours at the brutal 11th, but it is as you were. Scheffler two-under and McIlroy level par. 

On the 12th, the 150-yard par three called Golden Bell over Rae’s Creek, McIlroy has hit a cracker to within 10 feet or so but Scheffler has found the back bunker. It could be the World No 1’s first bogey of the day.

He missed out on his birdie at the par five 15th, and has now flipped his tee shot on the par three 16th into the water. That is a very receptive pin position, so a major mistake.

Back at the first, Brooks Koepka has started with a bogey. 

Woods is in some trouble at the par five second. He had to chop out into the fairway left-handed after his tee shot came to rest against a tree, and then his third from 190 yards sailed over the green.

Two peaches down the 10th, but not for the first time this year Scheffler does not convert his peerless ball-striking. His putting remains streaky, but he remains well-placed at two-under, five behind DeChambeau. 

Another American who has made a bit of a move is Wyndham Clark, reaching the turn in three-under 33. Birdies at the seventh and the ninth got him there.

Christo Lamprecht could be forgiven for fading to an opening round 74 at the Masters. Not only is the giant South African still at college - one of five amateurs in the field this year - he was probably sorely lacking in sleep.

As an amateur, the 6ft8in Lamprecht has been able to enjoy a few special privileges this week, one of which was staying a night in the fabled Crow’s Nest.

Located on the second floor of the clubhouse, above the library and Champion’s Locker Room, the Crow’s Nest is an 11ft square ‘cupola’, which can only be reached by ladder. It houses five sleeping berths, which are traditionally offered to amateurs for a night or more during Masters week.

Players who have stayed in the Crow’s Nest as amateurs who later went on to win the Masters include Jack Nicklaus, Ben Crenshaw, Tiger Woods, Tommy Aaron, Tom Watson, Ben Crenshaw, Craig Stadler, Mark O’Meara and Phil Mickelson. An inspiring list, to be sure.

The beds, though, are not the biggest. Lamprecht, who looks as if he belongs on a basketball court, posted a picture of himself with his feet sticking off the end of his. “It’s probably the best uncomfortable sleep I’ll ever have in my life,” he joked before his stay.

Lamprecht led last year’s Open after a brilliant opening round 66 at Hoylake. And he looked inspired again as he raced to three-under through eight at Augusta. But the South African faded on back nine, which included a triple bogey 8 at the par-five 15th, as the lack of sleep perhaps caught up with him.

He finds the fairway, finds the green and rolls in the birdie putt in unerring fashion. Nothing to find fault in there, exactly as he would have drawn it up. Woods walks to the par five second one-under.

This is a quite brilliant opening round from the man who has walked off Augusta National battered and bruised on several occasions. His second shot into the par four 17th caught a piece of the right side of the green, and he drained the putt from almost 30 feet.

The crowds around the first tee are as packed as they have been all day; Woods remains the biggest draw in golf, though it is now out of a sense of curiosity rather than awe. Woods hits a high slider from left-to-right with a three-wood, and finds the fairway. Very safe, but a long way behind the likes of McIlroy and Scheffler earlier in the day.

So many questions after his reported swing changes, but Hovland appears to have his game in good nick. Three-under after eight holes as the wind continues to whistle around Augusta.

He rolls in a putt from fully 30 feet and his first competitive round since Wentworth last autumn (207 days ago) is a four-under 68 at Augusta National. A winner here in 2016, Willett clearly just feels comfortable among the cathedral-high pines.

That is now four birdies in his last six holes, and DeChambeau leads the field by two shots. Two stiff two par fours to finish: can he reach the clubhouse without a bogey to sign for a 66?

He found the front section of the green in two on the par five eighth, and two-putted from long range. McIlroy needed that. Level par at the turn would be no disgrace, with the reachable par fives to come on the way home.

Over at the 16th, DeChambeau has stuffed his tee shot to within six feet or so so he might be about to extend his lead.

The defending champion is now two-under after eight. On the same score and also going well are: Matt Fitzpatrick, Viktor Hovland, Cam Smith and Wyndham Clark. The world’s best are still shooting good scores despite the swirling winds.

One player who missed the chance to join them is Shane Lowry, who sees a birdie putt at the second burn the edge. Still, a settled start from the Irishman.

I am not sure whether his second shot into the par five 15th was brave or foolish but it worked out. He was in the right trees, 228 yards from the pin with water short and long. The pin is also cut left, in the thinnest section of the green. DeChambeau’s shot just about made the journey, and sneaked on to the left fringe. From there it was an easy two-putt birdie. DeChambeau the new leader on five-under.

He and Bryson DeChambeau now share the early lead at four-under. Fox carved his drive on the par five into the pines right, laid up, but then chunked his third into Rae’s Creek. A sloppy bogey on a hole he would have expected to birdie.

He is going through his paces on the range in a salmony-pink shirt from his new clothing label. He will need all his experience to navigate Augusta in a freshening wind with very little competitive golf behind him.

He is two-over par after seven. The Californian has a stack of good finishes to his name but does not get himself across the winning line often enough.

In the group behind, McIlroy did well to two-putt from long range for par, while Scheffler produced a magical bunker shot escape with a par and remain two-under.

Back at the first, Shane Lowry has started his campaign with a birdie three.

The 2022 Open Champion has some very low rounds at Augusta on his CV and is two-under after six today. The Australian is a demon with the putter and will not be perturbed by the breeze.

They include the likes of Mickelson, Zalatoris, Rahm, Thomas, Clark, Fitzpatrick and Hovland. I suspect a number of those names were popular with golf punters for this week, and they are within striking distance.

Scottie Scheffler has rolled in a mid-range birdie putt at the par three sixth, and he is now two-under with three of Augusta’s four par fives to come. A bogey-free card so far, and the tournament favourite is perched ominously on the first page of the leaderboard. Just a par on the same hole for McIlroy, who remains one-over. 

He follows his birdie at the 12th with another on the par five 13th, and DeChambeau moves to within one of Fox. This is his best Masters start by some distance.

He is now back to one-under after 14 holes. Willett had shoulder surgery in November and was told his recovery would take at least a year, but he pushed himself to return to the venue of his major triumph. He is not going to play for the next eight weeks, so this is very much a test drive. To be under par is impressive in the circumstances.

Four is a very good score on that stringent hole, and both players did well to tidy up from the bottom tier with putter. Scheffler remains one-under, McIlroy one-over.

Smart start from Matt Fitzpatrick, he birdies the sixth to move to two-under. You would not say Augusta is up his alley, but he is long enough off the tee now.

A two at the par three 12th is always one to savour, and it moves the American to three-under with only Ryan Fox ahead of him. DeChambeau will have a spring in his step with two reachable par fives to come in his next three holes.

7.24pm: Fred Couples, Adam Hadwin (Can), Stewart Hagestad
7.42pm: Justin Rose (Eng), Eric Cole, Peter Malnati
7.54pm: Akshay Bhatia, JT Poston, Shane Lowry (Ire)
8.06pm: Bubba Watson, Nicolai Hojgaard (Den), Adam Schenk
8.18pm: Patrick Reed, Sungjae Im (Kor), Kurt Kitayama

An up and down start for the World No 2. On the par three fourth, he found the front bunker and could not convert his putt for a par. McIlroy falls back to one-over.

Wyndham Clark, Viktor Hovland and Will Zalatoris are all one-under par in the early stages of their first rounds. Anything under par is a good score on Augusta’s front nine. There are birdie chances on the way home.

Ryan Fox, son of All Black legend Grant, has suffered a woeful time since trying his hand on the PGA Tour. In his American appearances this year, he has missed five cuts and had a best finish of tied for 35th in an average field in Palm Beach Gardens. So, of course, he is at the top of the leaderboard here - five-under through nine. Golf makes very little sense sometimes.

Matt Fitzpatrick lost his second shot on the fifth to the right, and his trouser legs were flapping. That breeze will quicken these greens up. We could be about see Augusta with its full teeth for the next few days.

Another huge drive from McIlroy, almost to pin high on the short par four third with the wind at his back. He gets up and down for birdie to get back to level par. It looked as if Scheffler was going to make another birdie but he missed his chance from no more than five feet.

He bogeys the ninth to reach the turn in two-under 34. Things have cooled off after that rapid start, but still a very solid start.

That is effectively a bogey-and-a-half from McIlroy on a par five. It was a loose wedge, distance control with the shorter clubs once again proving a problem, and left him out of position. A golden rule at Augusta of which McIlroy will be well aware: do not miss long.

Over at the third, Jon Rahm has made his first birdie of the week. The defending champion is one-under.

Big-hitting Ryan Fox has eagled the par five eighth, and he jumps to five-under. One another par five, the 13th which winds around Rae’s Creek, Erik Van Rooyen has made a birdie to reach four-under. They are the front-runners currently.

The mallet putter does the job from around nine feet, and Scheffler moves into red figures. Solid start from the pre-tournament favourite, and if the putter obliges he will be awfully hard to stop.

A reachable par five becomes a three-shotter because of a drive that sails into the right trees. It took some creativity with a fairway wood to make it back to the fairway, before McIlroy misjudges his wedged third and misses long. Ever so quick from there. Sloppy after a promising start.

Not sure what his origin story is. Laura Davies, alongside him in the Sky Sports commentary box, is a Liverpool die-hard. I’m sure they will be early on Sunday to watch the games.

A birdie chance on a par give slips by, but a steady enough start from the defending champion.

Erik Van Rooyen has made it through Amen Corner unscathed, and is three-under with the two reachable par fives on the back nine to come. The South African has a good chance to post the clubhouse lead. An and DeChambeau also continue to go steady at three-under.

McIlroy had the better chance for birdie after a wedge from just 87 yards, but his effort slides by. A regulation four for Scheffler after finding fairway and green. A nerve-settler for the pair.

That was a confident start for McIlroy, who with the wind at his back on the first takes the bunker out of play with a booming drive that bounds down the fairway. Will be no more than a flick with a wedge from there.

You might notice a slightly different pre-shot routine from McIlroy following some work with swing coach Butch Harmon.

Up at the first green, Rahm and Fitzpatrick made pars. Fitzpatrick required a zippy little wedge shot from around 65 yards after finding the pines off the tee.

Rahm started with a double-bogey en route to winning last year, so he is two shots better off already.

Perhaps allowing for the breeze at his back, he did not fly his wedged second far enough up the green and it spins back down the front. A missed opportunity to set up a birdie chance.

Scheffler and McIlroy are on the first tee and will be teeing off in a few minutes...

He plays the par five eighth in textbook fashion, and the Englishman is now three-under alongside An, Fox, Van Rooyen and DeChambeau.

Back on the first tee, defending champion Jon Rahm has found the right side of the fairway with a three-wood. Matt Fitzpatrick has pulled his tee shot left into the pines, and Masters debutant Nick Dunlap has followed him in the same direction.

6.00pm: Jon Rahm (Esp), Matt Fitzpatrick (Eng), Nick Dunlap
6.12pm: Scottie Scheffler, Rory McIlroy (Nir), Xander Schauffele
6.24pm: Wyndham Clark, Viktor Hovland (Nor), Cameron Smith (Aus)

Byeong-hun An is another player to start with three straight birdies. The South Korean has always been a wonderful ball-striker but his putter has a tendency to misbehave.

Another superb putt through the fringe from beyond the green, perfectly weighted to topple onto a marble staircase and into the hole for birdie. Van Rooyen reaches the turn in three-under 33, which he could sell for a few quid to the players currently warming up on the range.

He gets up and down from beyond the green at the fifth to keep his card clean. His tee shot at the par three sixth rolls back to the front portion of the green. Safely aboard but a tough two-putt.

He was stymied in a horrid spot beyond the seventh green, unable to chip the ball because of how downhill it was once on the green. So he went with putter, skirting the shoulder of the bunker and barely dribbling his ball on to the surface, before gravity did the rest and it trickled into the cup for an unlikely birdie. Willett back to two-under. 

Over at the sixth, Christo Lamprecht has converted his birdie putt to move to two-under.

He has birdied the third to join DeChambeau on three-under. DeChambeau has found the back bunker on the punishing par four fifth, so could be about to drop his first shot of the week.

Is New Zealander Ryan Fox who has birdied the first two holes.

The 6ft 8in Christo Lamprecht has hit a lovely tee shot at the par three sixth, and has the chance to move to two-under.

As an amateur, Lamprecht is staying in the Crow’s Nest, which is essentially an annex at the top of Augusta clubhouse. Estate agents might describe it euphemistically as bijou, and as you can see the bedrooms were not designed with giant South Africans in mind:

He found the front bunker with his tee shot at the par three, but made a sandy three to remain in the sole lead. That is a momentum-saver.

Horrible start for America Austin Eckroat who is three-over after six holes.

His approach to the par five bounds beyond the green, but the flag revealed that the breeze is starting to get up. Granted, the green on that hole is at one of the higher points on the course. Sun coming through now at Augusta, conditions might be about to get trickier.

Three in three holes now for the American. He boomed a drive close to the green on the short par four third, and sensibly left his chip shot below the hole which is always crucial at Augusta. That left him a straightforward, uphill putt which he brushed in. DeChambeau leads on his own at three-under.

Over at the fifth, Danny Willett has made a bogey to drop back to one-under.

Sergio Garcia’s outfit is quite the look. Bright yellow trousers, green top, with a white skin underneath. It reminds of the 2006 Open at Hoylake, when he dressed all in bright yellow for the final round with Tiger Woods. The latter duly won and texted one of his friends: “I just bludgeoned Tweety Pie.”

He makes his four at the par five second, and this has been a serene start from DeChambeau. He joins Van Rooyen and Willett at two-under.

The socks are longer these days and the moustache thinner, but the South African has joined Willett at two-under and the pair share the lead at this very early stage. Van Rooyen’s fellow countrymen Charl Schwartzel and Trevor Immelman have won the Masters this century, and Louis Oosthuizen came close. A Green Jacket eluded Ernie Els, however.

The man who once called Augusta National a par 67 is on his way. DeChambeau needs a sound start given his Masters scar tissue, and he has a par five and short par four upcoming. A chance to move further into the red.

He ripped a wedge back down the slope to the front pin at the par four third and duly converted. A great start from the 2016 Masters champion but holes four to 12 are the hardest stretch of the course. If he can hang on at two-under until the 13th tee then he has a presentable chance to post a score in the 60s.

4.42pm: Sergio Garcia (Esp), Chris Kirk, Ryan Fox (Nzl)
4.54pm: Lucas Glover, Byeong Hun An (Kor), Harris English
5.06pm: Phil Mickelson, Sepp Straka (Aut), Tony Finau
5.18pm: Nick Taylor (Can), Joaquin Niemann (Chi), Russell Henley
5.36pm: Patrick Cantlay, Min Woo Lee (Aus), Rickie Fowler
5.48pm: Hideki Matsuyama (Jap), Will Zalatoris, Justin Thomas

A cracking approach from the former US Open champion at the opener. Augusta’s first hole generally plays as one of the toughest of the week, and flies under the radar as a straightaway par four. It is one of the three holes 2013 Masters winner Adam Scott highlighted for Telegraph Sport.

Around 20 per cent of this Masters field are making their Augusta debut. Given it can take two or three visits before players stop feeling scared to take a divot, that potentially makes it quite a shallow renewal. There again, the younger players now reach the Tour ready to win and are in no mood to hang about. The last player to win the Masters on debut was Fuzzy Zoeller in 1979.

Just been out on the course and it is breathless. The winds are not here yet and this is the time to play. The rains have softened the layout and it is benign. Great to see Danny Willett birdie the first. The 2016 champion was “touch and go” whether he would play this week after shoulder surgery seven months ago. The patrons are already glad to have the Yorkshireman here.

We now have a four-way tie at the top of the leaderboard as both van Rooyen and Knapp birdie the par-four third and Moore his birdied the second. They join Willett on one-under par to share the early lead.

Having just said we are yet to see the first birdie, we now have the first birdie of the 2024 Masters as 2016 champion Danny Willett has secured a birdie to take the lead. Unfortunately for Austin Eckroat playing alongside him it is a horror start as he double bogeys the first.

On the par five second, van Rooyen and Knapp both par and stay at even par. We are yet to see the first birdie of the 2024 Masters quite yet.

“Gary Player now on the subject of big-hitters: “In 30 years they’ll all hit the ball 400 yards. College players now are all in the gym. You know Rory McIlroy can deadlift 400lbs? He showed me yesterday. This is where we’re going. We need the R&A and the USGA to look at the golf ball. We have to cut the ball back 50-60 yards. Otherwise the whole concept of the game has changed. There won’t be any more par-fives. They’re hitting 8-irons into par-fives now. They talk about making golf courses longer but the world is running out of water. The cost of fertiliser and mowing etc It’s simple. Cut the ball back.”

Olazabal cannot land the biride putt and has to settle for a par, as do Moore and de la Fuente which means all five players that have played the first so far have secured a par.

Having hit their ceremonial tee shots, Nicklaus, Player and Watson are up in the main interview room now. It’s pretty syrupy stuff but they’ve earned the right to a few softball questions. So far we’ve heard about where they keep their Masters trophies at home, and their memories of putting on the Green Jacket. Actually, as I write that, we have just had a plea from Watson for the game of golf to come together. “We want the best players playing together, that’s the bottom line. At the moment we don’t have that.”

2016 Masters champion Danny Willett is up on the first tee and sends his drive onto the fairway. 

Olazabal is on the green in two and will have a lengthy putt to make birdie and take a very early lead.

On the first green van Rooyen and Knapp make their pars and the first group is officially through one hole.

Back on the first tee two-time Masters champion Jose Maria Olazabal gets his 2024 Masters underway and it is a lovely way to get started as he finds the middle of the fairway.

van Rooyen’s second shot lands on the green, short of the pin by around 20 feet. Despite playing a great tee shot, Knapp does not take advantage as his second goes off the back of the green.

Erik van Rooyen and Jake Knapp are on the first tee. We are finally ready to get the 2024 Masters underway.

Van Rooyen has the honour of the opening tee shot. Silence on the tee is never a great sign, but it is not terrible. It slides slightly to the right but not a bad start.

Knapp then steps up and sends his drive onto the left-hand side of the fairway. Always nervy on the first tee but that will have settled the nerves.

We are now just five minutes away from the first group, which is a two-ball, getting the 2024 officially underway. South African Erik van Rooyen will hit the opening tee shot and American Jake Knapp will be playing alongside him. Finally the 2024 Masters is nearly upon us.

Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player and Tom Watson are ready on the first tee for the ceremonial tee.

Player is the first man to hit and he nails his drive. Most people can only dream of playing a shot like that aged 88. Nicklaus and Watson also hit good tee shots, with Watson hitting the longest drive of the three, which perhaps is not a massive surprise considering he is the youngest at 74. Three quality shots from three quality players, all onto the fairway.

“It’s such a privilege and an honour to have been here 67 times. The memories I’ve got here - I cherish them. This golf course is like a big mouse trap with a piece of cheese.

“If you take the wrong nibble, it gets you, and it’s one of the best golf courses in the world!”  

We are just under half an hour away from the Honorary Starters Ceremony as six-time winner Jack Nicklaus, three-time winner Gary Player and two-time winner Tom Watson will kick off proceedings.

“Rory wants it so bad, is so aggressive and makes double bogeys. He puts himself behind the eight-ball that way. I think we will see a new Rory this year. He seems a lot more relaxed and comfortable in the way he is playing golf.

“Every aspect of his game is getting better and if he can stay out of his own way, just play golf and relax, he can do it. Heck, open up with a 70, two-under par. Don’t push it. You cannot win The Masters on a Thursday but you sure can lose it.”

“You have to be on all parts of your game – you can’t fake it around here. It is a very difficult golf course, especially in the wind.

“Because of the slopes on the green, you very seldom shoot at a hole location. You shoot at a slope to move the ball down to the pin. That is why it is very seldom a first-timer wins here.

“You need to know something about this course. The aggressive players have to show patience sometimes. If you get around this course without a penalty shot or a three-putt you have a chance.”

“We need The Masters now as viewership is down. We have a lot of young guys playing beautifully but people don’t quite know their names yet. We all want to see the best players in the world in the events and this is our first chance this year.

“This place is special, this tournament is special and the big names are going to make it special.”

“The added rain may slow down the greens a little bit so it is going to be soft, which is what I think the players will need with gusts up to 40mph. This is going to be a difficult test for these guys.”

I suspect a lot of people will be like this over the next four days and you cannot be blamed for doing so:

You can take a look at the updated tee times for today’s action. Some of the later groups will not finish today so will have to complete their opening rounds tomorrow. We will have to wait and see how the times change for tomorrow’s second round.

It has been 45 years since Fuzzy Zoeller’s victory in 1979, the last time a player making their Masters debut won. Our very own Tom Cary has been analysing whether the likes of US Open champion Wyndham Clark or Swedish sensation Ludvig Aberg could win on their first appearances at Augusta National.

It was actually dry and bright at 8am when play was originally due to start. Would be ironic if The Masters cost Tiger his chance of 24th consecutive cut by being overly cautious. They must feel the risk of further storms this morning is too great as it’s quite nice out now.

Tiger Woods will probably get in about 10 holes today. That means he will have to play 26 tomorrow, which will be tough for the 48-year-old, considering the fact he has completed one official round since withdrawing during the first round of last year’s Masters.

Taking advantage of a current break in the rain to walk into course. Updated start time of 1030am. Later groups won’t get around today. Disastrous, one would imagine, for Tiger Woods’ chances of making the cut. He’s off at 3.54pm and will have to walk a lot of holes tomorrow. Even if he does make it, it may cost him his weekend.

6:00 PM BST: Jon Rahm, Matt Fitzpatrick, Nick Dunlap

6:12 PM BST: Scottie Scheffler, Rory McIlroy, Xander Schauffele

6:24 PM BST: Wyndham Clark, Viktor Hovland, Cameron Smith

8:54 PM BST: Tiger Woods, Jason Day, Max Homa

9:06 PM BST: Brian Harman, Brooks Koepka, Tom Kim

9:30 PM BST: Dustin Johnson, Collin Morikawa, Tommy Fleetwood

The meteorologists are saying that the big storm has bypassed Augusta to the south, although there are one or two more that could still hit and that is what is concerning the green jackets at the moment. It is going to be windy when they do get underway, with gusts of up to 25mph. It should make the par three 12th even more fun to watch.

There has been no official confirmation on the length of delays but Sergio Garcia has just posted this on Instagram:

If that is true that would be a two and a half hour delay as Garcia was set to tee off at 14:12 BST (9:12 local time).

As the reigning champion, Spaniard Jon Rahm had the honour of choosing the menu for the Champions Dinner on Tuesday evening where he welcome 33 other Masters winners. Rahm’s menu included a choice of Basque ribeye steak or turbot for mains before a puff pastry cake called milhojas was served for dessert. To have learn more from the Champions Dinner and the other Masters traditions, you can have a read of Daniel Zeqiri’s piece here.

Everyone loves a prediction ahead of events like The Masters. Want to know what our experts think? You can have a garner at what our experts have been saying ahead of The Masters.

Tiger Woods claimed his 15^th major title at the 2019 Masters and he believes he can make it 16 this week. However, Woods withdrew ahead of the final day of the Masters last year due to injury and has made only six starts since the 2022 Masters. But the 15-time major winner still believes he can win this week.

“If everything comes together, I think I can get one more [major]. I still think they [things coming together to win] can. I don’t know when that day is, when that day comes, but I still think that I can. I haven’t got to that point where I don’t think I can’t.”

Woods was set to get his 2024 Masters under way later today alongside Jason Day and Max Homa at 18:24 BST, however that is subject to change with the weather delaying the start of play.

It is not a good omen to win the Par Three contest and then go on to secure the green jacket but Rickie Fowler will be hoping that is not the case this week. No golfer has ever won both in the same week. Fowler was victorious yesterday in the Par Three competition, registering five birdies in a bogey-free 22 to finish on five under par, two shots clear. Fowler will be competing at The Masters for the first time since 2020. In total there were five holes-in-one yesterday as the players enjoyed themselves ahead of the coming four days.

World number 13 Tommy Fleetwood will be in the last group today with Dustin Johnson and Collin Morikawa, which was scheduled to be at 19:00 BST but we will have to wait to see what time they go off. Despite successes on the European Tour and the Ryder Cup, he is yet to win Stateside. He has been speaking this week about wanting to end his wait for a win in America this week at The Masters.

As it often does the majority of the attention in the build-up has be on Rory McIlroy. Winning the Masters would complete the career Grand Slam for McIlroy and he would join an exclusive group which includes Tiger Woods, Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan, Gary Player and Jack Nicklaus. As well as not winning the Masters, The Northern Irishman has failed to win a major since 2014, which came at the US PGA Championship at Valhalla. Woods has given his backing to McIlroy to win the Masters and complete the Grand Slam. McIlroy has said it is flattering to receive the backing from 15-time major winner Woods.

“It’s nice to hear, in my opinion, the best player ever to play the game say something like that. Does that mean that it’s going to happen? Obviously not. But he’s been around the game long enough to know that I at least have the potential to do it. I know I’ve got the potential to do it too. It’s not as if I haven’t been a pretty good player for the last couple of decades. It’s nice to hear it when it comes out of his mouth.”

McIlroy is hoping that a patient approach this week will help him in his quest to complete the career Grand Slam.

“I would say not trying to win it from the first tee shot. I think that’s something that I’ve tried to learn. It’s a 72-hole golf tournament. I’ve won from 10 strokes back going into the weekend. There’s loads of different ways to do it. This golf course gets you to chase things a little more than other golf courses, if you make a bogey or if you get yourself out of position, because it always tempts you to do something you think you can do. I’m pretty confident in my golf game.

“I think I can do most things, but sometimes you just have to take the conservative route and be a little more disciplined and patient. With a 72-hole golf tournament, you can be patient, you can be disciplined, and you can stick to your game plan. That’s something that I’ve really tried to learn at this tournament over the years.”

McIlroy finished runner-up in 2022 to current world number one Scottie Scheffler. He has missed the cut twice in the last three years at Augusta National but has also enjoyed seven top-10 finishes on his last 10 visits.

Yesterday, LIV Golf ringmaster Greg Norman made a surprise appearance at the Masters AS A PAYING CUSTOMER and expressed his disappointment that more of his LIV players have not been invited to the season’s first major.

One who is here is Brooks Koepka, who was asked if it is possible to score a round of 59 at Augusta National. His response was typically blunt...

You may recall there was a bit of a commotion over trees at last year’s Masters. Specifically, three big loblolly pines which came crashing down to the left side of the 17th fairway on the Friday afternoon, following a brief storm delay.

Here is Tom Cary’s reminder of what happened last year:

Given you could eat your dinner off what passes for rough here – let alone Augusta’s perfectly-manicured fairways, on which not a blade of grass is out of place – it was rather shocking to see the illusion of perfection shattered for a moment and patrons sent running for their lives.

And they did run for their lives. If you think that is over-dramatising events, read the piece on golf.com last week in which the author caught up with two of the women who were sent running, and the man who lifted the ropes for them, barking at them to run across the tee box (an act that in normal times would be grounds for expulsion at a tournament where you can be ejected for possession of a mobile phone).

One of the women returned to find her fold-up chair “crushed” by a 100ft pine, and her backpack’s sides “blown out... as a sledgehammer would a bag of potato chips”. She suffered nightmares about trees for months after the incident. “I would just hear the cracking sound and scream again,” she recalled. “Then I would wake up kind of sweaty, kind of, like, just thankful to be alive.”

Another woman, a lady in a black dress, failed to run. Miraculously, two of the loblollies landed on either side of her.

Treegate certainly generated headlines, with pictures of the pines with their roots ripped out of the ground beamed around the world. And so, 12 months on, it seemed reasonable to ask what Augusta had done to prevent a possible repeat.

The answer: we do not really know.

To read Tom’s full article, click here

England’s Tommy Fleetwood has been drawn in the final group in round one for the second successive year, but he will not let the uncertain weather affect his preparations.

“I generally wake up and take the weather for what it is, just go out and play with the conditions we get, but I’ve heard the forecast is pretty bad,” Fleetwood, who is without long-time caddie Ian Finnis this week due to illness, said.

“The conditions are going to play a part in how the golf course plays and what happens there, so we’ll see.”

The first round of the 88th Masters has been delayed by at least an hour due to bad weather at Augusta National.

South Africa’s Erik van Rooyen was due to hit the opening tee shot at 8am local time (1pm BST), but tournament officials announced at 5am that play would not get under way on time.

“We continue to monitor the weather closely,” an official statement read.

“Gate openings and tee times have been delayed until further notice. The first round will not begin before 9am.”

Thunderstorms, heavy rain and winds gusting up to 45mph were all in the forecast for Thursday.