Rory McIlroy continued to display a maturity well above his years staying patient to post a one under par 71 on the opening day of the Masters.

McIlroy was lying well placed inside the top-10 late on the first day of the year’s first Major and just three shots behind American Bill Haas.

Haas, 31 shot a round of 68 to break par for a first time in 17 rounds of Augusta National.

But already lurking large is defending Masters champion, Adam Scott and wearing an Augusta green looking shirt and reminding everyone of his intention to not only claim a second straight ‘Down Under’ success but become only the fourth player in Masters history to win back-to-back Masters titles.

Rory McIlroy walks off the 18th green with bogey 1st day 2014 Masters.

“I am very pleased to get off to a good start, and there’s no doubt winning the Masters last year had me a little more comfortable on the first tee than I’ve ever been in the past,” said Scott sharing second place with a round of 69.

“The legs were not shaking and nerves jangling for six or seven holes like usual, so that was enjoyable for me today.” 

McIlroy’s round was characterised by a pair of birdies on each nine with dropped shots at eight, 12 and the last where he three-putted from the front edge of the green.

Historically, it is only the third occasion in his six Masters McIlroy has broken par on the first day at Augusta.

But then there was across the board observation among a large number of the players that two-time former Major Champion, David Graham had put the pins in some tough positions.

It was a sentiment shared by McIlroy.

“Some of the pin positions were tough to get close to, and just, sometimes I wasn’t putting the ball in the right place and taking twos and getting out of there,” he said.

“So for the most part I felt like I put my ball in the positions they needed to be in and it was just one of those days it was tough to get it close to the hole.

“The greens are firming up. The wind was all over the place. Anything under par today was a good score, so I’m happy with that.

“It was just a day when everyone needed to stay patient today and I think I handled that aspect of my game well.

“There were some tougher holes early that you could maybe take advantage of. But apart from that, the greens were getting firm on the back nine, the pin positions were difficult, you just really had to be wary of them.

“So anything in red numbers today was good.”