World No.1 Jason Day has butchered what was a hot round, dropping five shots in three holes to fall back off Jordan Spieth's leading pace after the opening round of the Masters.

Day put together a career-best front nine at Augusta National and sat five-under through 14 holes.

But that's when things went awry, the Australian making bogey at 15, a disastrous triple bogey on the par-three 16th and another bogey on the 17th as he finished with an even-par 72.

It left Day six adrift of defending champion Spieth, who continued where he left off last year by jumping to the opening round lead with a sizzling bogey-free six-under-66 in gusty winds.

Day appeared set to match the American when he carded a five-under 31 on the front nine, before the wheels came off spectacularly as he came home in 41.

A poor wedge after laying up on 15 led to a three-putt and then his tee shot on 16 found the water.

Another missed green a hole later had him limping home towards the clubhouse.

"I am not too frustrated with how everything went. Yeah, it's not the way I planned it out to be but I played some really good golf going up until then," Day said.

"If you get yourself out of position it is very difficult to salvage par and starting on 15 I got myself out of position really good."

The Queenslander started in brilliant fashion, nailing an eagle on the second hole after crushing a three-iron approach to 10-feet.

After birdies on five and eight Day was only a breath away from a hole-out eagle on the ninth but gave the shot back with a three-putt bogey on 10 before a birdie on 13.

A year ago Spieth opened up a three-shot gap with an opening round 64 before going on to win at a record equaling 18-under.

He has now led the Masters in his last five rounds at Augusta National.

The 22-year-old birdied the third, sixth, eighth, 10th, 13th and 18th holes.

"I would have signed for two-under today and not even played the round, knowing the conditions that were coming up," Spieth said.

"Got a lot out of the round with what I felt like was kind of averageish ballstriking."

Ireland's Shane Lowry and New Zealander Danny Lee share second, two shots back after rounds of 68.

Paul Casey, Justin Rose, Ian Poulter, Soren Kjeldsen, and Sergio Garcia lurk three back after rounds of 69 while a final hole bogey dropped Rory McIlroy amongst those at two-under-70.

The rest of Australia's tilt started slowly with 2013 Masters champion Adam Scott shooting a dismal four-over-76, leaving him 10 shots off the lead.

It was only slightly better news for Marc Leishman and Masters rookie Cameron Smith who entered the clubhouse with rounds of 74.

Steven Bowditch battled away despite a wrist injury to shoot a seven-over-79.

AAP

First round scores

66: Jordan Spieth (USA)

68: Danny Lee (NZL), Shane Lowry (IRL)

69: Ian Poulter (ENG), Soren Kjeldsen (DEN), Sergio Garcia (ESP), Justin Rose (ENG), Paul Casey (ENG)

70: Rory McIlroy (NIR), Billy Horschel (USA), Scott Piercy (USA), Danny Willett (ENG)

71: Jimmy Walker (USA), Matthew Fitzpatrick (ENG), Brandt Snedeker (USA), Kevin Streelman (USA), Charley Hoffman (USA), Hideki Matsuyama (JPN), Emiliano Grillo (ARG), Lee Westwood (ENG)

Par: Jason Day (AUS), Chris Wood (ENG), Zach Johnson (USA), Louis Oosthuizen (RSA), Bryson DeChambeau (USA), Thongchai Jaidee (THA), Kiradech Aphibarnrat (THA), Kevin Na (USA), Phil Mickelson (USA), Henrik Stenson (SWE), Graeme McDowell (NIR), Bernhard Langer (GER), J.B. Holmes (USA)

73: Angel Cabrera (ARG), Hunter Mahan (USA), Daniel Berger (USA), Brooks Koepka (USA), Davis Love III (USA), Smylie Kaufman (USA), Bernd Wiesberger (AUT), Victor Dubuisson (FRA), Dustin Johnson (USA)

74: Vaughn Taylor (USA), Tom Watson (USA), Rafael Cabrera (ESP), Keegan Bradley (USA), Cameron Smith (AUS), Troy Merritt (USA), Jamie Donaldson (WAL), Harris English (USA), Marc Leishman (AUS), Romain Langasque (FRA), Martin Kaymer (GER)

75: Bill Haas (USA), Bubba Watson (USA), Matt Kuchar (USA), Branden Grace (RSA), Jim Herman (USA)

76: Derek Bard (USA), Larry Mize (USA), Sandy Lyle (SCO), Justin Thomas (USA), Chris Kirk (USA), Patrick Reed (USA), Jason Dufner (USA), Charl Schwartzel (RSA), Darren Clarke (NIR), Mike Weir (CAN), Adam Scott (AUS), Anirban Lahiri (IND)

77: Fabian Gomez (ARG), Kevin Kisner (USA), An Byeong-Hun (KOR), Mark O'Meara (USA), Webb Simpson (USA), Trevor Immelman (RSA)

79: Steven Bowditch (AUS), Jin Cheng (CHN), David Lingmerth (SWE), Russell Knox (SCO)

80: Andy Sullivan (ENG), Rickie Fowler (USA), Vijay Singh (FIJ), Ernie Els (RSA), Ryan Moore (USA)

81: Robert Streb (USA), Sammy Schmitz (USA)

82: Ian Woosnam (WAL)

83: Paul Chaplet (CRC)