Updated April 07, 2017 09:25:30

Photo: Jason Day recovered on the 15th and 16th holes to improve late in round one. (AP: David J Phillip)

Australia's Jason Day has overcome a difficult start but Adam Scott has endured a mixed opening round at the Masters.

Day finished the first round at 2-over par 74 in a tie for 28th spot, nine shots behind early outright leader Charley Hoffman, who carded a 7-under 65.

Hoffman streaked away from the pack late in the day, leading by four shots ahead of William McGirt (3-under 69) and Lee Westwood (2-under 70) who were outright second and third respectively.

Marc Leishman led the Aussie charge, carding two bogeys and a birdie on a very windy day to finish at at 1-over after 18 holes.

Further back, Day started slowly, bogeying the third to be 1-over par after the first nine holes, before double-bogeying the 11th to fall further back.

But two birdies on the 15th and 16th saw Day take flight to narrow his score to 1-over, but dropped another shot on the 17th.

Scott, who broke Australia's drought at Augusta in 2013, finished at 3-over for the day.

He opened with a bogey on the difficult par-4 first hole, but bounced back with a birdie on the sixth.

Bogeys would follow on the ninth and 11th holes, while two birdies on the 13th and 16th sandwiched a bogey on the par-five 15th.

Scott closed the inconsistent round meekly with two bogeys on the last two holes to card a first round of 75.

Photo: Charley Hoffman moved to a shock lead during the first round. (AP: Chris Carlson)

Rod Pampling finished at 2-over, level with Day, while Aussie amateur Curtis Luck finished at 6-over.

Johnson out after fall

Meanwhile world number one Dustin Johnson withdrew from the Masters minutes before he was scheduled to tee off.

The 32-year-old had spent the past 23 hours receiving treatment for a lower back injury he sustained when falling down the stairs at his rented Augusta house on Wednesday afternoon.

The big-hitting American walked from the driving range to the practice putting green, stating he was going to "give it a try" but informed tournament officials of his decision to withdraw from the year's first major moments later.

"The issue is I can't swing full. I can't make my normal swing and I didn't think there was any chance I could compete," Johnson said.

"I didn't get much sleep but I wanted to play."

Johnson, the heavy Masters favourite after winning his past three starts, went through a tentative warm-up routine and was on the practice putting green moments before his 4:03am tee time.

ABC/AAP

Topics: golf, sport, united-states

First posted April 07, 2017 06:15:00