AUGUSTA (AFP) — Defending champion Scottie Scheffler and Northern Ireland’s Rory McIlroy are chasing history at the Masters, where a fast start at Augusta National on Thursday has been vital to success in the first major golf championship of the year.

The last 19 Masters winners have shot under par in the first round and the last five winners have been in the top three after round one.

“I think it’s just the sheer amount of talent in the field and people playing well,” 2023 Masters champion Jon Rahm said.

“It’s just hard to catch up when somebody starts strong and can keep it going strong for the rest of the tournament.”

World No. 1 Scheffler could join Jack Nicklaus, Nick Faldo and Tiger Woods as the only players to win two straight Masters titles.

The American, who also won in 2022, said thoughts of joining that select club are the furthest thing from his mind.

“When I step on the first tee on Thursday, I’m going to remind myself that I’ve done what I needed to do to play well, and it’s all about going out and competing now,” said Scheffler, who is scheduled to tee off at 10:15 a.m. alongside two-time PGA Championship winner Justin Thomas and Spanish amateur Jose Luis Ballester.

World No. 2 McIlroy tees off at 1:12 p.m. alongside last year’s runner-up, Ludvig Aberg, and American Akshay Bhatia, with the Northern Ireland star trying again to join Nicklaus, Woods, Gary Player, Ben Hogan and Gene Sarazen in completing a career Grand Slam.

McIlroy won the most recent of his four major titles in 2014 and has since come up empty in 10 attempts at Augusta to bag the only major he needs to complete his collection.

McIlroy will be especially aware of the need for a strong start on a course where he has often struggled out of the gate.

In 16 appearances he has carded just two sub-70 first rounds — the best a seven-under 65 that put him in the lead in 2011 when he went on to surrender a four-shot lead in the final round and finish tied for 15th.

“I just have to keep my head down and focus on my job,” said McIlroy, whose victories in the Pebble Beach Pro-Am and Players Championship have seen his stock rise this year.

Scheffler and McIlroy have dominated the pre-tournament conversation, but a raft of contenders includes world number three Xander Schauffele — winner of the PGA Championship and Open Championship last year — and reigning US Open champion Bryson DeChambeau.

World No. 4 Collin Morikawa is a two-time major champion who has finished in the top-10 in the past three Masters while fifth-ranked Aberg is hungry to improve on the runner-up finish he conjured at Augusta in his major championship debut last year.

DeChambeau and Rahm are among the dozen LIV Golf tour members in the field whose form can’t be gauged by world ranking, since the rankings system doesn’t recognize events on the Saudi-backed breakaway circuit.

While Augusta is a byword for tradition, this year’s 95-strong field faces a landscape noticeably altered by deadly Hurricane Helene in September, which caused the loss of many towering pine trees.

But apart from an airier feel, and spots at the 10th and the third holes where the branches encroach less, most players said the loss of trees made little material difference in how they attack the course.