MATT Fitzpatrick had his sights set on becoming Sheffield’s second consecutive Masters champion after outscoring playing partner Jordan Spieth on a highly eventful opening day of the 81st Masters.

After world No.1 Dustin Johnson was forced out by a back injury just moments before he was due to tee off, Fitzpatrick carded an opening 71 at a windswept Augusta National.

That was four shots better than 2015 champion Spieth, who followed his costly quadruple bogey on the 12th in last year’s final round with another on the par-five 15th.

But it could have been even better for the 22-year-old three-time European Tour winner, who had been three under par before a wayward tee shot led to a double-bogey on the 18th.

Fitzpatrick had to settle for joining compatriot Andy Sullivan, Kevin Chappell and Russell Henley on one under par, Henley having claimed the last place in the year’s first major by winning the Shell Houston Open.

With winds gusting up to 35mph moving balls on greens and causing havoc around Amen Corner in particular, defending champion Danny Willett and Rory McIlroy were among the players trying to battle back from poor starts.

Willett hit a wild opening drive into the trees to the right of the first fairway and needed two shots to escape.

The 29-year-old found the green with his fourth shot and two-putted for a six, making him the first defending champion to start with a double bogey since hole-by-hole records began being collected in 1983.

A similarly wayward drive on the par-five second, which played the easiest hole on the course in 2016, cost Willett another shot and, although he birdied the third and 10th, a bogey on the 11th left him two over par.

McIlroy was a shot worse off after dropping shots on the first, third and eighth.

The world No.2’s Ryder Cup partner Thomas Pieters had threatened to set a daunting target when he raced to the turn in 32 and also birdied the 10th to reach five under par. However, Pieters then bogeyed the 11th and double-bogeyed the 12th after finding water off the tee.

The 25-year-old Belgian then followed a bogey on the 15th with a birdie on the 16th, but double-bogeyed the last and had to settle for a 72.

American William McGirt, who won the Memorial Tournament last year to secure his Masters debut, became the first player to break 70 with four birdies and a solitary bogey in a superb 69.

McIlroy was still searching for a first birdie of the day and had to scramble for par on the 12th to remain three over, but Willett was just three shots off the lead after an eagle from 11 feet on the 13th got the 29-year-old back to level par.

Meanwhile, Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player were part of an emotional tribute to Arnold Palmer as the 81st Masters got under way on Thursday.
Nicklaus and Player continued their role as honorary starters by each hitting a tee shot on the opening hole, with 77-year-old Nicklaus producing the longest drive by five yards from 81-year-old Player.

That followed moving scenes as Palmer’s widow Kit was accompanied to the first tee by Augusta National chairman Billy Payne, who paid tribute to the four-time Masters champion.

Each spectator had been given a commemorative “Arnie’s Army’’ badge and Palmer’s green jacket was draped over a white lawn chair on the tee.

“Welcome one more time to Arnie’s Army,” Payne said. “This is a wonderful, but in one respect difficult, day. For the first time in decades someone is obviously missing. The unbearable sadness about that is surpassed only by the level of affection. He was more than the King and it hurts that he is not here today.”

It is the first Masters since Palmer’s death in September and the first without him since 1954, the year before he played in the tournament 50 straight times.

Palmer had acted as an honorary starter since 2007, although he had been unable to hit a shot last year due to a shoulder problem.

Nicklaus, who had a tear in his eye after pointing to the sky before hitting his drive, wrote on Twitter: “Even though my friend Gary Player and I are a year older and maybe a few yards shorter, this first tee time on Thursday of the Masters never gets old.

“It was wonderful to pause and pay tribute to our dear friend Arnold, and I hope from above he offered us a thumbs-up for finding the fairway.

“It’s not important but I must have also found a little extra as I might have nipped Gary. Perhaps I should give Rory McIlroy some credit and thanks for the little driver tweak the other day on the range at The Bear’s Club. Best of luck to him and the rest of the field in the 81st Masters.”