The Masters 2023: first round – live

Key events

Show key events only

Please turn on JavaScript to use this feature

The par-three contest was won yesterday afternoon by Tom Hoge. The 33-year-old North Carolinian is a late bloomer: a first PGA Tour win at the Pebble Beach Pro-Am last year, followed by a top-ten finish at the PGA Championship and a tie for third at last month’s Players. He made a hole-in-one at the 8th yesterday en route to a winning mark of -6, though in terms of sheer wow factor he was somewhat upstaged by Seamus Power’s back-to-back aces (!) on 8 and 9, and Scottie Scheffler’s slam-dunk ace on the final hole. Hoge also now has to go into serious battle with the knowledge that no player has followed up victory at the par-three contest with a Masters win in the same year, though Ray Floyd went close in 1990, eventually losing the main prize to Nick Faldo in a play-off.

If it makes Hoge feel any better, a dozen players have both the par-three contest and the Masters on their CV. While it’s true that only two of those won the Masters in a year subsequent to their par-three victory - Ben Crenshaw and Vijay Singh - that’s got to count for something, right?

The ceremonial opening tee shots were hit by Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus and Tom Watson. Just the 243 years and 11 Masters wins between them. It’s exactly six decades since the Golden Bear pulled on a green coat for the first time; in lieu of that tale, here’s the story of how he slipped into it for a third.

Jack Nicklaus. Still got it. Photograph: Brian Snyder/Reuters

Weather report … and it’s going to be …

It’ll be warm today, albeit with the outside possibility of some thunderstorms in the afternoon. Hopefully they’ll swerve Augusta National. What appears to be swirling Augusta National is the wind, so low scores today may come at a premium.

There are more serious threats of thunderstorms tomorrow afternoon, plus a smattering of rain. Saturday is when things get serious: although the thunderstorm threat is low, the rain is expected to tip down in large enough quantities to put a stop to play. The wind will be up as well, so it’ll be a real Open-style scene. And then there’s Sunday, which isn’t expected to be so bad, but still a bit wet nonetheless. All good news for the longer hitters, mind you.

Should the worst happen, and the conclusion of the Masters is delayed until a fifth day for the first time since 1983, the forecast for Monday looks good. But here’s to that not being a factor whatsoever.

One thing worth pointing out to those fretting about any disruption to the natural rhythms of the Masters: the committee at Augusta National are a great bunch of lads, and are past masters at crowbarring the tournament into any manner of gaps so it can finish on Sunday as planned. There was a two-tee start on Sunday in 2019 to avoid thunderstorms late in the day; the 2003 edition was played over three days after rain washed out Thursday in its entirety. But of course we’ll see how things pan out. Bugger off, thunder! Do one, lightning!

Preamble

Hello friends, and welcome to our live hole-by-hole coverage of the 87th edition of the Masters Tournament. There’s only one way to begin, isn’t there.

So many questions! Not enough answers! Can pre-tournament favourite Scottie Scheffler, the new Players champion, become only the fourth man to win consecutive Masters? He’ll join an elite club if he does: Jack Nicklaus, Nick Faldo, Tiger Woods. Or can Rory McIlroy, who shot 64 on Sunday last year to finish second, go one better this year and finally complete the holy grail of career grand slam? Again, exclusive club: Jack, Tiger, Ben Hogan, Gary Player, Gene Sarazen (and Augusta National co-founder Bobby Jones if you factor in the career slam in its original form).

Could Jon Rahm become the fourth Spaniard to pull on a green coat, after Seve, Jose Maria Olazabal and Sergio Garcia? Or will the true heir to Seve’s throne in Jordan Spieth – the lunacy of the driving, the heatseeking ability to find trouble, the other-worldly ability to escape from it in ever-entertaining fashion; it’s all there, don’t let the Mom’s-apple-pie image throw you off the scent – win a second Masters on a course of which he knows every inch?

The USA prevails more often than not, with 63 wins out of 86 to date. So who makes it 64? The reigning PGA champ Justin Thomas? Two-time major winner Collin Morikawa? Cameron Young, who had two top-three finishes in the majors last season, and just finished runner-up at the Match Play? Sam Burns, who won that Match Play? One of the major-championship nearly men such as Patrick Cantlay, Xander Schauffele, Tony Finau or Will Zalatoris, all of whom have finished strong at Augusta in the past?

Jason Day, runner-up in 2011, has been working his way back into form and loves this place. Im Sung-jae, runner-up in 2020, has three top-six finishes this calendar year. Justin Rose, runner-up in 2017, has been back in the winner’s circle this season and finished high at the Players. Hideki Matsuyama, the 2021 winner and fifth at Sawgrass? Reigning US Open champ Matt Fitzpatrick? Everyone’s new favourite Tom Kim? Amateur sensation Gordon Sargent? Any of those?

Or what about one of the crazy LIV kids? Open champion Cam Smith? The 2020 winner Dustin Johnson? Four-time major winner and Netflix brooder Brooks Koepka? The 2018 champion and festive-subpoena enthusiast Patrick Reed? No doubt a lot will be written about their presence, and Greg Norman’s lack of it, but unless Reed and Rory start throwing hands halfway down the 15th on Sunday afternoon, we promise to do our best to ignore the extraneous noise, concentrate on how everyone’s actually playing, and generally feel and spread the love.

Or what about Tiger? Well, y’know. But really. We’ve already learned to put nothing past him.

All those words, then, and still a fair chance that we’ve forgotten to mention the eventual winner. Ah well. We could go on for ever – Bryson! Bubba!! Sergio!!! - but what would be the point? There aren’t too many no-hopers in this field. So unwrap the green paper from a pimento cheese sandwich, pour yourself a long cool glass of iced tea, suck absent mindedly on a Georgia Peach Ice Cream Sandwich, and settle down on the porch. We’ll get going here at 3pm BST, which translates as 10am in Georgia. Until then, we refer you back to the CBS theme, which you can find here on a one-hour loop.