And he's off. Sammy Schmitz, perhaps a tad nervous, hits his tee shot on No. 1 right and into the trees at Tea Olive.

Schmitz plunked his approach to 12 feet at No. 1 but ran the putt past the hole. Taps in for bogey on his opening hole

So Schmitz makes the day's 12th bogey at No. 1. Two players, including Rickie Fowler, made double. Could be worse

Sammy Schmitz: 1 over through 3 holes

Sammy Schmitz: 1 over through 5 holes

Hot dang! Sammy Schmitz plunks his tee shot 7 feet from the hole at the downhill par-3 sixth. Good chance at birdie coming up

Elsewhere: Nothing but pars from Troy Merritt after his opening bogey. He's 1 over through 5 holes, one group behind Sammy Schmitz

David Duval on Golf Channel: "If you can just keep yourself in shouting distance and not shoot yourself in the foot, you're doing a good job" That's Sammy Schmitz so far. Another par and he's still even through 7 holes.

And it's a two-putt par at No. 8. Sammy Schmitz remains even

Schmitz avoids the trees at No. 9 with a 314-yard drive (his longest of the day) that leaves him a clear shot into the sloped green. Can't be short here ...

Oh wow. Schmitz chipped to 9 feet and made the right-to-left putt. That's how you make the turn: He's even par.

Really only in trouble once: His very first shot into the trees. He's kept it steady since then.

Update on the amateurs in the Masters:
Bryson DeChambeau -1 (14)
Sammy Schmitz E (9)
Romain Langasque E (4)
Derek Bard +4 (F)
Paul Chaplet +4 (7)
Cheng Jin +6 (16)

Here's columnist Jim Souhan's quick review of Schmitz's front nine:

He left his opening drive to the right, chipped out, saved bogey, and has looked remarkably steady since that first swing.

He's at even-par through nine after a nifty up-and-down from the right of the 9th green. He birdied No. 2 with a long, tricky, downhill putt that fell in on its last revolution. At the par-3 6th, he went right at a flag tucked behing a bunker, stuck it at four feet and made the putt.

He's also on the leaderboard, literally if not mathematically. As the Mid-Am champ, on the first day his name will be sixth on the 10-man leaderboards around the course. At even-par, he looks like he belongs up there in a lot of ways on a windy day at Augusta National.

I picked Rickie Fowler to win and thought Jordan Spieth was off his game. Fowler is plus-7. Spieth leads at minus-5. So, nevermind.

Follow Jim on Twitter @SouhanStrib

Schmitz with a clean drive on 11. Let's see if he can stay out of trouble here