Jason Day and Adam Scott have raised hopes of another famous Australian Masters triumph with career-best starts to the season's opening major at Augusta National.
Day holed a clutch par putt at the last to close out a bogey-free first-round 67 to be tied fourth, two shots behind superstar joint leaders Brooks Koepka, Jon Rahm and Viktor Hovland.
Scott is three shots off the pace in a share of sixth after marking the 10th anniversary of his landmark 2013 victory with a stylish four-under 68.
British Open champion Cameron Smith rounded out an exciting opening day for the Australians with a 70 to also be in the mix.
"It's great," Day said.
"I had a chat with Scotty yesterday. He was on the way to the gym to go throw the weights around pretty hard, and I was sitting on a golf cart just eating food - so a little bit different.
"But Scotty's been a good mate of mine, so it's nice to see him play well. I know that he's got off to a little bit of a slow start this year, but things can change in major championships.
"And Cam Smith, that's a nice start. With how little those (LIV) guys have played, coming in, especially Cam, it's nice to be able to see him do that."
Day has been in stellar touch all year, posting top-10 finishes in all seven of his 2023 US PGA Tour events and arriving in Georgia high on confidence after a quarter-final showing at the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play in Texas.
And it showed, as the resurgent former world No.1 drained five birdies without making a single blemish on Thursday.
"The (last) putt was very important," he said after saving par from the trees off the tee on the 18th.
"I had a lot of good looks out there for birdie early on, missed them. I just couldn't quite get the speed right at the start.
"I just kept on blowing it through the break. And then the back side things started easing back into where I could see the ball go into the hole a lot better and, obviously, it was nice to be able to get up-and-down on the last hole."
Teeing off earlier in the morning, Scott wound back the clock with a vintage display of ball striking and could easily have shot even lower with a touch of luck.
After recording back-to-back birdies on the second and third holes, he reeled off 10 consecutive pars before bursting to life late on the back nine.
He birdied the par-4 14th, then eagled the par-5 15th after a breathtaking six-iron approach over the water.
Scott was desperately unlucky not to ace the par-3 16th, his ball spinning back and missing the cup by centimetres.
But he missed the birdie putt, then another short attempt on No.17 before making his only bogey of the day on the last.
Still, the 42-year-old was chuffed having opened with 69s three times before, including when he won the Masters in 2013, but never previously having carded a first-round 68.
"I have to be satisfied with that," Scott said.
"You want to put yourself in the right spot early - any week you want to get off to a good start - but we just don't know what's going to happen and how the weather might affect the rest of the week.
"So if you're hanging around right from the start on a week like this it's probably helpful."
Aussie young guns Min Woo Lee and amateur Harrison Crowe both have work to do to make the halfway cut following opening rounds of three-over 75.
