Another year of pageantry has arrived at Augusta National, but this time without one of The Masters’ more-talented golfers. Dustin Johnson (who was scheduled to be grouped with 2-time green jacket winner Bubba Watson and PGA Championship-winner Jimmy Walker) announced this morning that he would withdraw from the tournament after suffering a back injury from a fall last evening.

Dustin Johnson Withdraws from Masters on first tee https://t.co/7vFl9PvozO pic.twitter.com/GorW78c4ru

— ArmchairAllAmericans (@ACAllAmericans) April 6, 2017

Johnson’s absence left two new favorites to win the tournament: Jordan Spieth and Rory McIlroy. McIlroy had a difficult time on the first 9 holes, finishing +3 through the front-9. Luckily for McIlroy, a birdie on hole 13, and back-to-back birdies on holes 15 and 16, left McIlroy at even-par for the day. Jordan Spieth, however, wouldn’t see the same redemption as McIlroy. Despite being even-par through the front-9 holes, Spieth struggled tremendously on the back-9. Spieth would bogey the 14th hole, and then quadruple-bogey the 15th, thus putting himself in a difficult position to bounce back from. Spieth would end the day at +3 and tied for 41st.

The leader at the end of round one is Charley Hoffman, who finished the day 7 strokes under par. In second place, and 4 strokes behind Hoffman, was Will McGirt at -3. It’s worth noting that only 11 players would finish the day under-par, particularly due to the horrendous wind that plagued Augusta National throughout the day.

Other Notable Scores

Lee Westwood: -2 (3)

Phil Mickelson: -1 (T-4)

Matthew Fitzpatrick: -1 (T-4)

Justin Rose: -1 (T-4)

Sergio Garcia: -1 (T-4)

Thomas Pieters: E (T-12)

Fred Couples: +1 (T-19)

Rickie Fowler: +1 (T-19)

Danny Willett: +1 (T-19)

Jon Rahm: +1 (T-19)

Jason Day: +2 (T-26)

Bubba Watson: +2 (T-26)

Adam Scott: +3 (T-41)

Bill Haas: +3 (T-41)

Hideki Matsuyama: +4 (T-54)

Jimmy Walker: +4 (T-54)

Zach Johnson: +5 (T-66)

Angel Cabrera: +7 (T-86)

Armchair All-Americans will continue to provide coverage of The Masters at the end of each round.