The Ryder Cup winner could barely contain his famous fury on Thursday afternoon after his approach to the seventh hit the flagstick and spun back into a bunker, from where he made bogey.

It was one of four in a first-round 74, but he returned refocused on Friday and hit every green in regulation to be handsomely rewarded with his lowest 18 holes at Augusta, bettering his 68 in 2021.

It would have been even better but for a six-foot par putt which horseshoed out at the last.

That dropped him to four-under, which would have been one off the lead but by the time he finished on the 18th, defending champion Rory McIlroy, in the penultimate group of the day, had extended his advantage to seven under with birdies at the second, third and fourth curtailed by a dropped shot at the fifth.

But having begun the day two off the lead, there were no complaints from Hatton, who last year branded Augusta National “unfair at times” for not rewarding good shots.

Hatton carded his first birdie since the 10th on Thursday afternoon after chipping to seven feet at the second, before holing from 10ft at the third and sinking an eight-footer at the seventh.

It was proving to be a good distance, with further birdies from a similar range coming at the short 12th and then he almost holed his pitch at the par-five 15th for an eagle.

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A six-footer at the par-three 16th was his seventh birdie but, true to his sometimes erratic form, he blotted his copybook at the last.

“Walking up 18 I was pretty confident that I couldn’t mess it up enough that I wouldn’t shoot my best score here – I mean, naturally I tried with a three-putt, so that was disappointing, to say the least,” he said.

“But I certainly would have taken six-under before I went out.

“I was absolutely headless on seven yesterday because I had gone from essentially having a very good birdie opportunity to not only has it gone back in the bunker at speed, it’s gone onto the flat, and then it’s semi-buried itself. I was like, sick, I’ve got no chance. Not good.

“I still had 11 holes to go so you move onto the next hole. As headless as I would be, I still go and try my best, and it ended up being a not too-bad day as I didn’t think two-over was that bad yesterday afternoon.”

While one Ryder Cup team-mate was still out on the course leading the way, another – Justin Rose – was safely in the clubhouse at five under after four birdies in five holes from the seventh boosted a round that was struggling to get going.

Rose would give a shot back after going long at the par-three 12th but a birdie on the 15th saw him sign for a 69.

He was joined on five under by 2018 champion Patrick Reed, who was two-under for his round to the turn.

Rose said last year’s near miss in a play-off against McIlroy had not had a bearing on his current approach.

“Of course I want to win this tournament. I don’t really need to try any harder,” he said.

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“I just think the experience in that is probably trying harder ain’t going to help me so that’s probably the dance I’m doing with myself. I know the intrinsic motivation is there.

“I felt like I got into a bit of cruise control today. I felt like I was cruising through the round and I was on the front foot for the last few hours of the round.

“If I was thinking anything, I was thinking birdie. That’s a nice mode to be in and that felt similar to Sunday last year (when) I felt like I needed to birdie every hole.”