Spieth’s halfway total of 130 not only set a new Masters record but also equalled the lowest 36-hole total in major championship history and, at 14 under par, was the lowest in relation to par in any major.

The 21-year-old is the fourth player to have a five-shot lead at this stage of the year’s first major after Herman Keiser (1946), Jack Nicklaus (1975) and Ray Floyd (1976), all of whom went on to win.

Floyd was also the last man to hold the outright lead in each round, although former champion Trevor Immelman shared the first-round lead in 2008 and led on his own from then on.

With 15 birdies and just one bogey over the first two days Spieth had shown no signs of cracking under the pressure, but the world number four will not have relished seeing Woods and McIlroy joining the likes of Phil Mickelson, Justin Rose and Dustin Johnson in the chasing pack.

Woods, whose last Masters victory was 10 years ago, had refused to give up hope of wiping out a 12-shot deficit to Spieth and made the ideal start with a hat-trick of birdies from the second – including from just 10 inches on the fourth – to move to five under par.

And McIlroy, who needs to win to complete the career grand slam at the first attempt, was a shot further back after holing from 40 feet for eagle on the par-five second.

The good scoring was particularly impressive given the fact that 14 of the 18 pins had been placed within six yards of the edge of the greens, but danger still lurked and defending champion Bubba Watson was caught out badly on the first.

Watson’s third shot somehow plugged right under the lip of a greenside bunker and forced the left-hander to simply play backwards into the sand, leading to a triple-bogey seven.

Watson responded superbly with birdies on the next three holes and, after a bogey on the fifth, also birdied the sixth to get back to two under par.