Play at Augusta went on until nearly 8.15pm because of an earlier fog delay and Westwood, in the last group of the day, three-putted the 17th to slip a stroke behind first round leaders Justin Rose and Trevor Immelman.

Westwood closed his three-under-par round with a par four, but three-time champion Faldo said in his American television commentary: "At a major is it really worth it? I would have stopped.

"You've got to really question this decision to rush up the 18th." But Westwood's decision meant he will tee-off at 10.56am instead of returning to finish his first round at 8am.

"I just wanted to get in and get it over with – I didn't want to go back out tomorrow morning," said Westwood.

"Sometimes it's easy to have a three-foot downhill putt in the dark than first thing. I've had later finishes on the clock, but not as dark as this.

"We weren't moving faster, we had to wait on 17 and 18. We didn't want to play the 18th at 8am when it's cooler."

Paul Casey also bogeyed the 17th late on and was forced to settle for a one under 71 and a share of 11th three shots off the pace.