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| - US Open champion Bryson DeChambeau was set for an early morning showdown with Augusta National's Amen Corner as the opening round of the 84th Masters began Thursday. Six-time Masters champion Jack Nicklaus and three-time green jacket winner Gary Player hit ceremonial tee shots at rainy Augusta to open the event, postponed from April due to the Covid-19 pandemic. Threesomes are going off both tees in a bid to finish before darkness because of the shift to autumn. In another nod to the deadly virus pandemic, no spectators were allowed onto Augusta National. DeChambeau joins world number two Jon Rahm of Spain and South Africa's Louis Oosthuizen, the 2010 British Open champion, in the fourth group off the 10th tee at 7:33 am (1233 GMT). That sets up the 27-year-old American to quickly attack the famed trio of holes known as Amen Corner -- the 505-yard par-4 11th, the 155-yard par-3 12th and the 510-yard par-5 13th. Long-driving DeChambeau overwhelmed Winged Foot in September with brute force on the way to his first major title, proving his risk-reward style of maximizing distance and location without regard to rough could produce a major victory. "I'm playing the best I've ever played," DeChambeau said. "I've won a major. There's a lot of opportunity out there now." DeChambeau's huge practice drives and talk of using a maximum 48-inch driver stoked fears the 27-year-old American would overpower the course with his length and dominate his way to the green jacket. "Pretty much every hole, he's going to have a pretty distinct advantage over everybody," third-ranked Justin Thomas said of DeChambeau. "He still has to execute, hit the shots and make the putts, but I sure would like to be hitting from his tee shots as opposed to mine distance wise." Wedges and short irons into the notoriously speedy and undulating Augusta greens can only help DeChambeau. "A short iron into the green is always going to be an advantage, especially at Augusta where the greens are so severe," said Thomas, who nonetheless warned, "Augusta is never defenseless." Defending champion Tiger Woods tees off two groups behind DeChambeau, the 15-time major winner looking to match Nicklaus with a record sixth Masters crown and break the mark he shares with Sam Snead of 82 career US PGA titles. Four-time major winner Rory McIlroy, trying to complete a career Grand Slam with a Masters victory, starts off the first tee at noon alongside world number one Dustin Johnson, the 2020 PGA Player of the Year and Tour Championship winner. McIlroy could join Woods, Nicklaus, Player, Ben Hogan and Gene Sarazen as the only career Slam winners. Johnson is trying to win his second major title and become the first top-ranked player to win the Masters since Woods in 2002. A field of 92 starters from 23 nations includes a record 26 players making Masters debuts, two more than the prior record set in 2014. js/gj
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