After a stop-and-start warm-up session, Dustin Johnson arrived at the first tee for his 2:03 p.m. starting time but walked off the tee rather than start his round.
The pre-tournament favorite slipped and fell down stairs at his rental house late Wednesday afternoon and injured his lower back, making his status questionable for the first round.
Johnson, winner of his last three PGA Tour events and the No. 1 player in the world, had a therapy session Thursday morning before arriving at Augusta National about 90 minutes his tee time.
At 1 p.