Playing only the third major of his career after securing his place by finishing second to Rory McIlroy at the US PGA Championship last year, Lynn carded a four-under-par 68 in the first round at Augusta National.

The 39-year-old, who has just one win in almost 400 European Tour events, carded six birdies and two bogeys to lead by one from Jim Furyk and Justin Rose, who were both approaching the end of their rounds.

Out in the third group at 8.22am local time, world number 53 Lynn birdied the first, eighth and ninth to be out in 33, and after a dropped shot on the 10th, hit back with birdies on the 11th, 12th and 15th, where he pitched to three feet.

A bogey on the 17th looked like being followed with another on the 18th when he was faced with a 12ft putt for par, but he holed out to complete a brilliant debut round.

World number one Tiger Woods, seeking a fifth Green Jacket, was one under after six holes, but defending champion Bubba Watson was two over after seven following dropped shots at the first, fifth and seventh.

Watson was by no means the first to fall victim to the opening hole, ranked the hardest on the course in 2012 at an average of 4.39, with 2011 winner Charl Schwartzel and Lee Westwood faring even worse with double-bogey sixes.

Westwood, seeking a first major title at the 60th attempt, had responded angrily to suggestions from Colin Montgomerie that he was running out of time to break his drought, with his 40th birthday later this month.

And he quickly repaired some of the damage with a birdie on the par-five second as he looked to improve on a Masters record which reads second, 11th, third in the last three years, before picking up further shots on the ninth, 10th and 13th to lie two under.

Schwartzel, who chipped in for birdie on the first in the final round two years ago, carved his drive into the trees and hit more timber with a left-handed escape attempt.

His third shot went across the fairway and into the first cut of rough, from where he played an excellent approach but could only two-putt for a six.

What he would have given for any of the drives hit by Arnold Palmer, Jack Nicklaus and Gary Player in their role as honorary starters some two hours earlier, with Player in particular hitting a superb shot of some 250 yards which found the right-hand side of the fairway.

With that the trio who used to be known as golf’s “Big Three” – they have 13 Masters titles between them – retired to the clubhouse and allowed the tournament proper to begin, with Sandy Lyle hitting the first shot on the 25th anniversary of his victory here.

Lyle, with a peculiar pause in his backswing and a putter which resembled a frying pan, chipped from one side of the green to off the other side to bogey the first, and also dropped a shot at the fourth before a birdie on the eighth took him out in 37.

And the 55-year-old came home in 36 with a birdie on the 15th and bogey on the 17th to post a creditable 73, one over par.