The Australian Masters is shaping as the third major golf tournament in Australia this summer to suffer at the whim of the elements.

In a disastrous run of mishaps, bad weather and questionable management, the Australian Open, the Australian PGA and now the Masters have been hit.

But for overnight Masters leader Steve Collins, the weather which on Thursday ripped through the Huntingdale course for almost 12 hours turned out to be an ally.

Collins said he had been able to go onto the course for the opening round without any expectations.

But that is likely to change on Friday.

The West Australian has a two shot lead over Queenslander Adam Scott and Peter Lonard of NSW after conquering the worst of the conditions.

"One of the great things about having conditions like this is that nobody's got any expectation levels," Collins said.

"I had no score in my head, no expectations of how I was supposed to play."

While the Masters seems certain to come to a natural conclusion on Sunday despite the bad weather, the signs early Friday were ominous.

Last month the Australian Open began in uproar and ended in embarrassment when the greens became unplayable on day one and the championship was reduced to 54 holes.

At Coolum in Queensland last week a new controversy developed when the PGA ended with Lonard and Jarrod Moseley sharing the lead.

Failing light prevented a playoff continuing and organisers then declared a tied result after ruling out a further playoff the following day.

While the Masters should survive, the bad weather is tipped to continue and is bound to keep the crowds down at least until the weekend.

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