A clumsy chip from the back of the 15th green threw Rory Mcllroy's Masters challenge into disarray on day one at Augusta National.
The Holywood star was cruising on four-under-par after a tidy opening 14 holes when his approach shot on the par-five 15th pitched pin-high and ran through the green.
McIlroy, inexplicably, chipped back through the green into the water hazard. A double-bogey was the result and he would suffer the same fate on the 17th when his approach shot also flew the green and a heavy-handed chip left him in three-putt territory - which is exactly what he proceeded to do.
McIlroy, who did not speak to the media after his round, heads into Friday's second round seven off the lead of England's Justin Rose who carded a wonderful 65.
Shane Lowry popped in a closing birdie to break par and card an opening 71 to sit six shots behind Rose.
The Offaly man had made a solid start to the tournament, with a bogey on the third followed quickly by a birdie on four, before making further gains on eight and nine.
However, the back nine proved more of a challenge with a bogey on the 10th. Another followed on 17 before the birdie on the last.
"I felt on the front nine I wasn't playing great and then I turned in two-under and felt like I played better on the back nine and didn't really get nothing out of it," said the 2019 Open champion.
"Then I was fuming walking off 17 green to be honest because I had worked so hard to stay under par and then when I hit my drive off 17, I was like, right where that pin is on 17 and where the pin is on 18 I knew there was going to be two chances on the way in if you could get your drive away.
"It was just the sloppiest bogey of all time. But to birdie the last was nice and to shoot under par was nice.
"I think Justin Rose went a bit crazy today, but this golf course is not giving anything. It's firm. I believe there might be a bit of rain overnight, but probably won't be much. But yeah, this golf course is going to play tough over the next few days."
Scottie Scheffler made an ominous start to his bid for a third green jacket in four years after honorary starters Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player and Tom Watson had backed McIlroy to finally triumph at Augusta.
Aiming to become the fourth player after Nicklaus, Nick Faldo and Tiger Woods to win back-to-back Masters, Scheffler carded a bogey-free 68 to share the early clubhouse lead with Canada's Corey Conners.
Scheffler missed the start of the season due to surgery on a hand injury suffered while preparing Christmas dinner, but finished second in the Houston Open on his last competitive start and carried on where he left off on Thursday.
After leaving a long birdie attempt on the first inches short of the hole, Scheffler picked up a shot on the par-five second after a superb pitch to three feet and then holed from 60 feet for birdie on the fourth.
Another birdie on the par-five eighth took Scheffler to the turn in 33 and although he surprisingly three-putted the par-five 13th for par, he holed from 40 feet for birdie on the 16th and narrowly missed from eight feet on the last.
"I would have felt pretty good about it," Scheffler said when asked if he would have taken a 68 before teeing off.
"I had a feeling the golf course was going to get pretty firm. The areas to hit your irons out here are pretty small and they get even smaller when the greens are firm."
The world number one had been on the practice range when Nicklaus, Watson and Player gave their annual press conference after hitting ceremonial tee shots on the opening hole to get the year’s first major under way.
Asked who they thought would win a coveted green jacket on Sunday, or who they wanted to win, all three nominated world number two McIlroy, who needs to win the Masters to complete a career grand slam.
Nicklaus also revealed that he recently had lunch with McIlroy and gave his seal of approval to the Irishman’s shot-by-shot plan to tackle Augusta National.
"We went through it shot for shot, he got done with the round, I didn't open my mouth and I said 'I wouldn't change a thing,"' Nicklaus said in a press conference following the honorary starters ceremony.
"The discipline to do that is what Rory has lacked in my opinion. He's got all the shots, he's got all the game.
"He certainly is as talented as anybody in the game, but if you go back through his history in the last few years he gets to a place and all of a sudden a seven or an eight pops up and that keeps him from getting where he needs to go."
Additional reporting: PA and Reuters
