Bad weather delays start of Masters

The first round of the 88th Masters has been delayed by at least an hour due to bad weather at Augusta National.

South Africa's Erik van Rooyen was due to hit the opening tee shot at 8am local time (1pm Irish time), but tournament officials announced at 5.00am that play would not get under way on time.

"We continue to monitor the weather closely," an official statement read.

"Gate openings and tee times have been delayed until further notice. The first round will not begin before 9am."

Thunderstorms, heavy rain and winds gusting up to 45mph were all in the forecast for Thursday, with rain not expected to ease until lunchtime.

Rory McIlroy will have pre-tournament favourite Scottie Scheffler and Xander Schauffele for company when he gets his 10th bid to complete the career grand slam under way, which will now be 4.42pm Irish time at the earliest.

Shane Lowry will begin his tournament alongside Akshay Bhatia and J. T. Poston at 8.24pm Irish time and given the forecast looks likely to have to finish his opening round on Friday.

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