AUGUSTA, Ga. — Augusta National was in a forgiving mood on Thursday.

Mother Nature isn’t expected to be as kind the next two days, threatening to wreak havoc on the Masters second and third rounds after a warm and windless day on Thursday led to a litany of scores in red numbers.

Jon Rahm, Viktor Hovland and Brooks Koepka took advantage of the calm conditions with 7-under 65s to seize the early lead before the weather’s impending unwelcome arrival.

Cameron Young, who flamed out with a pair of 77s and a missed cut at last year’s Masters, his first, is right behind those three after a 5-under 67 alongside the resurgent Aussie Jason Day.

Ireland’s Shane Lowry, Australia’s Adam Scott and Americans Xander Schauffele, Gary Woodland, Sam Burns, U.S. Amateur champion Sam Bennett and defending-champion Scottie Scheffler all stand at 4-under after shooting 68s.

Tiger Woods struggled to a 2-over 74.

No one took better advantage of the friendly conditions than Hovland early on as he carded an eagle on the par-5 second hole and powered on from there.

“It was very fun today,’’ Hovland said. “I got off to a nice start, obviously making eagle on No. 2 and just kept hitting great shots on the front nine and made some putts, and before I knew it, somehow I was 6-under through 11 [and] just kind of coast in to 65. So that was awesome.’’

Hovland, Rahm, Koepka and others got while the getting was good with the Friday forecast calling for a nearly 100 percent chance of rain with thunderstorms expected and Saturday 100 percent chance of rain with more than an inch of precipitation and a high of 50 degrees — more than 30 degrees colder than the temperatures the past two days.

The forecast makes it seem highly likely that the second round will not be completed on Friday, pushing it into Saturday, though Saturday’s forecast looks more ominous than Friday’s. Sunday is expected have only a slight chance of a shower.

“Obviously we don’t know how bad it’s going to get, but I tend to think that it’s easier to make up some ground on the easier days,’’ Hovland said of potential pursuers. “So, if you start with a really low round and it gets very difficult, it’s kind of easier to protect the score a little bit compared to if you’re five, six, seven shots back. It’s really difficult to make up that much ground if this place is playing very difficult.

“So, obviously getting off to a nice start is key this week.’’

Hovland, paired with Woods and Schauffele, has had past success playing around Woods. He was the low amateur when Woods won the 2019 Masters and he’s won Woods’ Hero World Challenge in the Bahamas twice.

“Yeah, I don’t know what it is,’’ Hovland said of the Woods coincidence. “Just happened to be the case. But obviously it’s really cool to just be around him.’’

Hovland was on the practice range on Tuesday when the tournament draw was announced and his caddie, Shay Knight, informed him.

“My heart kind of went a little bit further up in the throat, and I just thought, ‘Wow, this is going to be exciting,’ ’’ Hovland said. “After that, I calmed myself down. You’ve just got to embrace it. You can’t be scared or anything like that. If you want to win this tournament, you can’t be scared about playing with Tiger.’’

Rahm began his day by four-putting the first green and taking double bogey. He played the rest of the round unafraid, going 9-under on his final 17 holes.

“That’s pretty impressive … not the four-putt but the remaining golf after that,’’ Hovland said when he heard of Rahm’s round.

“If you’re going to make a double or four-putt or anything, it might as well be the first hole [with] 71 holes to make it up,’’ said Rahm, ranked No. 3 in the world. “After that, I was focused on the fact that all the strokes were good. The reads were good. The roll was good. Obviously, the speed was off on the first two putts, so once I kind of accepted that there was nothing really to look into, I just got to work and I had 17 holes to make up.

“I’ve played really well this year. Maybe not the last few tournaments, but I’m feeling confident. Hopefully I can keep it going. I know it’s the first day and there’s a long way to go.’’