AUGUSTA (AFP) — Justin Rose fired a scorching seven-under-par 65 on Thursday to take the first-round lead at the Masters, three strokes clear of a trio led by defending champion Scottie Scheffler.

Rose flirted with the Augusta National course record of 63, clenching his fist in celebration after draining a 19-foot birdie putt at the 16th to reach eight-under.

Wayward drives left him in the trees at 17 and 18 and after salvaging one par, Rose closed with his first bogey of the day but still emerged as the first-round Masters leader for a fifth time.

Rose, who has never managed to parlay the first-round lead into a green jacket, was three strokes clear of world number one Scheffler, last year’s runner-up Ludvig Aberg and Canadian Corey Conners.

Rory McIlroy was four-under through 14 holes, but two double bogeys in the space of three holes saw the Northern Ireland star finish on even par 72 — well adrift in his latest bid for a Masters title that would complete his career Grand Slam.

Rose leapt out of the gate with birdies at the first three holes.

“Everything was going exactly where I was looking,” Rose said, adding that his 25-foot birdie at the first was “exactly what you need to settle yourself into the Masters.”

He then grabbed three more birdies at the eighth, ninth and 10th.

“That’s when the day felt a bit different,” Rose said. “That’s when I felt I was doing something potentially more on the special side.”

He added birdies at 15 and 16 before errant tee shots left him in the trees at 17 and 18, but a bogey at the last was not worth dwelling on, Rose said.

“It was a really good day’s golf on a golf course that was a stern test,” Rose said. “I think if you look at the overall leaderboard, not many low scores out there.”

Scheffler, trying to join Jack Nicklaus, Nick Faldo and Tiger Woods as the only players to win two straight Masters titles, was his usual unflappable self in producing a bogey-free four-under par 68.

“Anytime you can keep a card clean out here, it’s a really good thing,” Scheffler said. “I had to make two really good up-and-downs, but other than that, the golf course was in front of me most of the day, kept the ball in play, did a lot of really good things out there.”

Scheffler’s birdies included a 62-foot birdie putt at the fourth hole. After just missing another long birdie putt at the sixth, Scheffler got up and down for par from a bunker at the seventh.

Awesome shot

He nabbed his third birdie of the day at the par-five eighth, where his tee shot found the first cut of rough and his second shot settled unpromisingly in a divot but he calmly rolled in a 14-foot putt.

“Just one of those deals,” Scheffler said of the “pretty deep” divot. “I hit a really awesome shot to get it to about 15 feet... spun it to the right of that hill and gave myself a good look that I was able to knock it in.”

Scheffler ended a run of seven straight pars with a 42-foot birdie bomb at the par-three 16th.

Sweden’s Aberg claimed a share of second with a birdie at 18 — one of his four birdies in the last seven holes.

Conners birdied three of the last four holes, snaking in a 24-foot birdie putt at 17 as part of a birdie-birdie finish.

US Open champion Bryson DeChambeau and his LIV Golf colleague Tyrrell Hatton of England shared fifth on three-under-par 69.

Jason Day, Harris English, Aaron Rai and Akshay Bhatia were a further stroke back on 70.

The 89th edition of the Masters opened in picture-perfect conditions, but it took an ugly turn for McIlroy.

It looked like he would buck his trend for slow starts at the Masters when he reached four-under with a birdie at the par-five 13th.

But after he saw a birdie attempt at 14 narrowly slide by, disaster struck at 15, where McIlroy’s approach was over the green and his chip coming back raced past the hole and into the water for a double bogey.

In the rough at 17, McIlroy fired his approach over the green and after another disappointing chip was unable to make a six-foot bogey attempt.

Spain’s 2023 Masters champion Jon Rahm was in even worse shape, posting a three-over-par 75. Xander Schauffele, winner of the PGA Championship and Open Championship last year, carded a 73.