Bryson DeChambeau shoots 65 to lead the Masters; Scottie Scheffler one behind and favourite

DeChambeau birdied five of his final seven holes in a round of 65 that for a while seemed likely to earn him a commanding lead, until Scheffler breezed round in 66 to move ominously into second.

Scheffler was bogey-free, holing out from sand at the 12th and then enjoying a stroke of fortune at the 13th, when his approach held up on the bank and allowed him to make birdie when a dropped shot appeared more likely.

From there, the 2022 champion closed the gap to just one shot and is already around the 6/4 mark to go on to earn a second Green Jacket with what would be his third victory in his last four starts.

Playing alongside Scheffler, Rory McIlroy's one-under 71 was made to look pedestrian as he ended the day just inside the top 20, two shots ahead of defending champion Jon Rahm, who stumbled from two-under through eight to shoot 73 after bogeys at the final two holes.

Perhaps though the performance of the day came from Danny Willett, the 2016 champion who returned from more than six months out with a four-under 68 which defied all logic.

Willett hadn't played competitively since September, after which he underwent surgery which had been expected to keep him out for a year.

“It’s unexpected, isn’t it?” said Willett, who had two tears in his left shoulder repaired and cysts removed following the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth.

“I had no idea what to expect, so yeah, it’s obviously always nice to come in having shot a decent score and just give yourself that little bit of confidence inside and hopefully have a nice few more days.

“I played 27 holes on Sunday, woke up the next day, no pain, no nothing and that was when you think all right, even if you play bad I think it’s still worthwhile taking the risk and at least pegging it up and feed off people’s energy around here and hopefully have a few good days.

“Nice finish there to birdie three of them last four holes instead of posting an all right score of level-ish, which would, again, for me have been an amazing achievement, but to shoot 68, yeah, really happy.”

DeChambeau meanwhile was finally able to better the 67 which he had declared represented "par for me" following his runaway US Open win in 2020.

“You mess up, I’m not a perfect person,” DeChambeau admitted. “You learn from your mistakes and that was definitely one.

“I shot 65 today and that was one of the best rounds I’ve played in a long time. There’s three more days to go and I’m not losing sight of that fact.

“Winning at Winged Foot helped me understand how to win big tournaments but a lot of patience is needed on this course where you think it's gettable but can be super tricky.

“I’ve learned to be a little bit smarter on the course and not go for every flag, but play from the right position. I’ve made a lot of big numbers out here so taking that off the radar has been leading to some success for me.”

Among the late starters, Tiger Woods birdied the first hole and was one-under at the suspension of play following a two-and-a-half-hour delay to tee times.

Woods will set a new record for consecutive cuts made at the Masters if able to keep alive his streak of having done so in every professional appearance,