Scottie Scheffler made an ominous start to his bid for a third Masters title in four years after honorary starters Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player and Tom Watson had backed Rory McIlroy to finally triumph at Augusta National.
Aiming to become the fourth player after Nicklaus, Nick Faldo and Tiger Woods to win back-to-back Masters, Scheffler carded a bogey-free 68 to share the early clubhouse lead with Canada’s Corey Conners.
Two-time runner-up Justin Rose was setting the pace out on the course, the former US Open champion racing to the turn in 31 and picking up his sixth birdie of the day on the 10th.
From 40 feet away! Scottie Scheffler makes birdie on No. 16. #themasters pic.twitter.com/2e2NeEhUdc
— The Masters (@TheMasters) April 10, 2025
Scheffler missed the start of the season due to surgery on a hand injury suffered while preparing Christmas dinner, but finished second in the Houston Open on his last competitive start and carried on where he left off on Thursday.
After leaving a long birdie attempt on the first inches short of the hole, Scheffler picked up a shot on the par-five second after a superb pitch to three feet and then holed from 60 feet for birdie on the fourth.
Another birdie on the par-five eighth took Scheffler to the turn in 33 and although he surprisingly three-putted the par-five 13th for par, he holed from 40 feet for birdie on the 16th and narrowly missed from eight feet on the last.
The world number one had been on the practice range when Nicklaus, Watson and Player gave their annual press conference after hitting ceremonial tee shots on the opening hole to get the year’s first major under way.
Honorary Starters Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player and Tom Watson begin the 2025 Masters Tournament. #themasters pic.twitter.com/LstSDUkltb
— The Masters (@TheMasters) April 10, 2025
Asked who they thought would win a coveted green jacket on Sunday, or who they wanted to win, all three nominated world number two McIlroy, who needs to win the Masters to complete a career grand slam.
Nicklaus also revealed that he recently had lunch with McIlroy and gave his seal of approval to the Northern Irishman’s shot-by-shot plan to tackle Augusta National.
“I think it’s about time that Rory won and I sat down with him last week,” Nicklaus said. “I said ‘I know you prepared for Augusta, tell me how you’re going to play the golf course’.
“We went through it shot for shot, we got done with the round, I didn’t open my mouth and I said ‘I wouldn’t change a thing’. That’s exactly the way I would try to play the golf course.
“The discipline to do that is what Rory has lacked in my opinion. He’s got all the shots, he’s got all the game.
“He certainly is as talented as anybody in the game, but if you go back through his history in the last few years he gets to a place and all of a sudden a seven or an eight pops up and that keeps him from getting where he needs to go.”
McIlroy would join Nicklaus, Player, Ben Hogan, Gene Sarazen and Woods in having won all four major titles if he is victorious at the Masters, and Player added: “I hope he does, because it will give golf a great boost to have another winner of the grand slam.”
McIlroy, who was among the later starters on Thursday, had birdied the third and eighth to reach two under par, a shot behind Ryder Cup team-mate Tyrrell Hatton, who recorded four birdies and a solitary bogey on the 17th in a 69.
The Masters LIVE: Leaderboard, latest scores and updates from Augusta
Rory McIlroy backed for Masters victory as Scottie Scheffler makes ominous start
Rory McIlroy handed Masters boost after legendary champion validates strategy
Angel Cabrera’s past crimes against women forgotten on Masters return
Why does TV coverage of the Masters start so late?
Rory McIlroy’s four-year-old daughter sinks long putt in ‘very cool’ Augusta moment
