Rory McIlroy can "handle" any pressure that comes his way as he looks to complete a career Grand Slam at the Masters, says Shane Lowry.

The Masters is the only major missing from McIlroy's collection and the Northern Ireland golfer is looking to win a first major since the PGA Championship in 2014.

Lowry, who won the 2019 Open Championship at Royal Portrush, has a best finish of tied for third at Augusta in 2022.

"Obviously there is a lot of pressure on him, but I think he's at a stage now where he's able to handle it," Lowry said on McIlroy.

"He's won everything there is to win at golf and I wouldn't be surprised if he was able to give it a run this week."

Lowry says both he and McIlroy are "in good form" and have prepared well for the annual major at Augusta.

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Can Ludvig Aberg go one better than last year?

The Swede, finished second on his Masters debut 12 months ago, which was his first start in any major. There was also a creditable tie for 12th at the US Open but he did not make the cut at the US PGA Championship or the Open Championship in 2024.

And the 25-year-old arrives at Augusta National in mixed form having earned the biggest win of his career at the Genesis Invitational at Torrey Pines in February but then subsequently missing cuts at the Players Championship and the Valero Texas Open, which he described as "probably the lowest of lows" in his career so far.

"No matter if I win or tournament or lose a tournament or miss the cut in a tournament, I still do the same things," Aberg said.

"I still wake up and try to do the same things in terms of practice, in terms of training, and that's not going to change. I feel like that's how I've approached these last couple of weeks, even though things have been going a little bit up and down.

"I understand it's part of the game and it's going to be like that if you have a long and successful career."

This time last year we were watching Max Homa in the mix for victory here at Augusta.

Since then, his form has fallen off a cliff and he's slumped to 81st in the world.

And yet, early on in his first round here, green shoots are evident.

He's birdied the second and the third to move to two under par.

Good to see him back.

Rory McIlroy believes he has never "been in better form" coming into the Masters as he looks to finally land the only major title that has eluded him.

The 35-year-old Northern Irishman returns to Augusta as one of the favourites to win the Green Jacket this weekend.

McIlroy, who has earned seven top-10 finishes in his previous 16 Masters appearances, has already claimed two tournament wins in 2025.

A dominant final round led to a two-shot victory at Pebble Beach in February, before he mentally reset to win The Players Championship at Sawgrass in a play-off showdown on the Monday.

It is the first time he has won two PGA Tour events before heading to Augusta National.

"I played great at Pebble Beach. Had to do it the hard way at Sawgrass, coming back on the Monday and playing in tough conditions," McIlroy told BBC Sport NI.

"Those are great confidence builders, they are validations of the stuff I worked on at the end of last year and it shows me my game is on the right track."

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Former Masters champion Adam Scott heads out with two-time major winner Xander Schauffele very shortly and alongside them will be a rejuvenated Viktor Hovland.

The 27-year-old Norwegian won the Valspar Championship in March off the back of missing three consecutive cuts and has credited the turnaround with return to his old putter after trying three different models.

"I went back to the old gamer I've always had," Hovland said, confessing he was fighting "noise" in his mind more than technique.

"It's nice to experiment a little bit. I realised it definitely wasn't the putters' fault. I hadn't put too much time on the putting green. I got more confidence over the ball. I think that was the issue in tournaments. I hadn't put in the work.

"I certainly feel a lot more comfortable and confident with my game right now. So if I can give myself a lot of even mid-irons, short irons from the fairway into these greens, I think I can make some birdies. Just make a lot of easy pars. I think that's where this course is at. Try to pick up birdies on the par fives.

Scottie Scheffler gets to three under thanks to a smart chip from the right of the eighth green followed by a 14 foot birdie putt.

That sees him close up to just one off the lead.

We spoke about Justin Rose being a fast starter at Augusta earlier, and just to prove that we know what we're talking about the Englishman starts his latest Masters bid with two opening birdies.

It's nice when all that reseach pays off (insert smug face emoji here).

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Bosh.

More jostling below leader Stephan Jaeger as both Tyrrell Hatton and Jordan Spieth make excellent moves on the par-five eighth.

Hatton is four feet from making eagle, but that birdie moves him one off the lead.

Meanwhile, Spieth converts from five feet and he joins the two-under crowd.

Jonathan Jurejko
BBC Sport senior golf reporter

As every Masters debutant says, understandably, Aaron Rai is seeing a "dream come true" this week.

Well, the dream got even better as the 30-year-old Englishman rose to the top of the iconic leaderboard early in his first ever round in the Masters.

Playing at Augusta is a reward for the Wolverhampton player's success over the past couple of years, which includes a maiden PGA Tour title at the Wyndham Championship in August and climb into the world's top 50.

Image source, Getty Images

As we told you earlier, Rai is a rarity in that he wears two gloves - although he takes them off on the putting green.

He also uses iron covers as another homage to father Amrik, who introduced him to the sport aged eight.

One more fun fact? The first club he ever practised with was his elder brother's hockey stick. Happy Gilmore eat your heart out.

Read more about Rai's journey here.

Laurie Canter told BBC Radio 5 Live playing at Augusta was a "pinch me moment".

Well, his dream is getting ever better as he's just birdied the sixth to move into a share of third.

Fine start for the 37-year-old English rookie.

A disappointing close to the front half of Augusta National for Phil Mickelson and Keegan Bradley as they both bogey the ninth,

The vast majority of Masters champions have been within four shots of the lead after the first round.

These two could do with an improvement over the back nine.

Bob MacIntyre is trying to bounce back after that unfortunate double on the seventh.

The 28-year-old Scot, who made a par on eight, takes a huge lump of turf out of the ninth fairway as he zips his iron shot into the putting surface but then sees his birdie putt from eight feet stay left and slip past the hole.

He rolls in for for a four and then makes par on the 10th. Very steady stuff from the left hander.

Joaquin Niemann misses a good chance for birdie on the ninth but that's still a tidy enough front nine 34 for the Chilean.

Collin Morikawa also misses a birdie look from 10 feet but he must be thrilled to get through nine holes under par having had to scrape and claw his way around for most of it.

Spare a thought for American Chris Kirk who until very recently was lurking around the top of the leaderboard.

However, a quadruple bogey at the 13th after twice dumping his ball in the creek has seen him slip way off the top.

Crazy how quickly a good round can unravel at Augusta.

Knew I shouldn't have asked my friend and colleague Phil to give his hometown input on Aaron Rai!

Aaron Rai finds the front bunker on 12, and he's unable to get the sand save as his escape rolls to 12 feet and he then misses the putt.

That's a disappointing run into Amen Corner for the Englishman but important he just hangs on here and steadies the ship on 13.

Stephen Watson
BBC Sport Northern Ireland at Augusta National

In his Champion's Dinner speech on Tuesday evening, last year's winner Scottie Scheffler said how good it was that all the world's best players were back playing together in Augusta.

Currently this only happens at the four majors because of the split in the game, but there are 12 LIV players here this week.

Image source, Getty Images

We're enjoying these early starters for sure but there are plenty more to come over the next hour or so.

Here's what we've got to look forward to:

17:33 - Patrick Cantlay (US), Rasmus Hojgaard (Den), Matt Fitzpatrick (Eng)

17:50 - Brooks Koepka (US), Russell Henley (US), Sungjae Im (Kor)

18:01 - Adam Scott (Aus), Xander Schauffele (US), Viktor Hovland (Nor)

18:12 - Rory McIlroy (NI), Ludvig Aberg (Swe), Akshay Bhatia (US)

18:23 - Hideki Matsuyama (Jpn), Bryson DeChambeau (US), Shane Lowry (Ire)

18:34 - Jon Rahm (Spa), Wyndham Clark (US), Tommy Fleetwood (Eng)

So if you need to make your tea, probably worth getting on with it soon...

Fred Couples finished in a tie for 54th in a PGA Tour Champions event last weekend.

But the 1992 Masters champion, who is now aged 65, is currently under par and in the top 10 on the leaderboard as he tackles Amen Corner.

A pair of pars for Tyrrell Hatton and Jordan Spieth as they just keep things ticking over at the narrow par-four seventh.

Been a tidy round from them both so far.