Masters opening round DELAYED due to adverse weather conditions with fears stars won’t finish today

GOLF fans will need to wait a little longer to get their fix of the Masters after competition organisers announced it had been delayed due to adverse weather.

It was announced that Day One of The Masters in Augusta, Georgia will not start as planned at 2pm UK time.

But the Augusta National have now confirmed the tournament will get underway at 10.30am local time - 3.30pm in the UK.

That is two-and-a-half hours later than originally scheduled.

The honourary starters - legends Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player and Tom Watson - will take their ceremonial tee shots on the first tee at 10.10am with the gates opening for the patrons 40 minutes before that.

The initial decision to delay the tee-off time came at 5am local time - 10am in the UK - this morning.

A statement from the Masters said: "We continue to monitor the weather closely.

"Gate openings and tee times have been delayed until further notice.

"The first round will not begin before 9am (2pm UK)."

The iconic course has been shrouded under gloomy weather.

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Thunderstorms predicted for this morning are expected to last until midday local time.

It had originally been scheduled to start at 1pm with Erik van Rooyen and Jake Knapp due up.

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Rory McIlroy and Scottie Scheffer were due to tee off at 3:42pm UK time.

However, their new tee time is set at 6.12pm on British shores - 1.12pm in the States.

The delay has led to fears that players will not have time to finish the first round before the day closes.

Late tee-off times for Tommy Fleetwood and Tiger Woods - 7pm and 6.24pm UK time respectively pushed back to 4.30pm and 3.54pm - in the final group may see them not able to finish the first round today.

The winner of this year's tournament will win more than £2.5million.

Play was famously suspended last year when strong winds saw three of the famous pine trees fall down.