Campbell accepts Augusta's gifts

THE MASTERS FIRST ROUND: So, this is how you rekindle the fire. You ensure the gods dispatch glorious sunshine, banishing the thunderous grey clouds of recent years to some dark outpost in the stratosphere. You titillate by putting pin placements in accessible positions on receptive greens. You even push forward some of the tees.

And, just like the old days, the crowds will roar so loudly that you’d swear even the magnolias were shaking from the din.

Yesterday, in this formative stage of the 73rd edition of the US Masters, players mostly accepted the gifts bestowed on them by a course set up to reward accuracy and good approach play and gentle putting. The upshot? Young and old alike delivered a plethora of birdies, with the global nature of the sport confirmed with a multi-national hue which had Asians and Europeans and Americans rubbing shoulders at the business end of the leader-board.

This was a day where you were left scratching your head. A crazy old day. After the past two years, when the weather and tough course contrived to turn the tournament into a battle for survival, this latest edition provided a birdie fest. Nobody entered into the spirit of it all as much as Chad Campbell, playing with a deity normally reserved for a certain T Woods.

This time, Woods, a mere mortal, struggled to gatecrash the party. So too did Phil Mickelson, who was to sign for a 73 which left him feeling like the boy invited to the party but not given any goodies. “I played terrible, drove it terrible” confessed Mickelson. Yet, in a late surge, Woods found his touch and had three successive birdies from the 12th – moving him to three-under – to ensure those ahead would look anxiously over their shoulders.

A closing bogey dropped the four-time champion to two-under, five adrift but well within striking distance.

On a day of red-hot scoring, Campbell’s 65, seven-under, led the way by a stroke from Jim Furyk and Hunter Mahan and the first round stroke average of 72 was significantly better than 2007 (76) and 2008 (74).

Campbell started out with five straight birdies – the best start ever in the Masters – and would eventually turn in a mere 31 strokes, which tied the lowest front nine in Masters history. He continued his march on the back nine, rolling in four successive birdies from the 12th as he produced a master-class of his own that only unravelled with late bogeys, on the 17th and 18th..

The chasers were headed by Furyk and Mahan who each shot a 66 to be a stroke ahead of Larry Mize — rolling back the years some 22 years after his Masters win the 1987 champion — and Japan’s Shingo Katayama, as players took advantage of the course set-up. They wanted the roars back, and they got them . . . although this overdose of birdies will probably lead to tougher pin placements over the remaining three days.

The Irish challenge generally stayed the pace, an opening day that saw the trio make solid starts: Padraig Harrington, aiming to add the Masters to the British Open and US PGA titles he has in his possession, opened with a 69 and Graeme McDowell, despite finishing bogey-bogey, also signed for a 69. Rory McIlroy, in his Masters debut, turned in 36, level par, and suffered a bogey on the 10th and remained one over through 15 holes, failing to birdie either of the Par 5s on the back nine.

But a birdie on the short 16th moved him back to level par for the tournament and the Co Down teenager would finish on that mark.

McDowell’s poor finish didn’t leave any sour taste. “You know, 69 around here is never a bad score. I hit a couple of loose shots over the last two holes and paid the penalty but I generally controlled the ball pretty well and hit it in all the right places. I actually putted well and left a few shots out there so I have to be content with that opening round,” he said.

It was a day to be patient. “I was happy with my discipline. When I got to five-under (after 16 holes), I was trying to get to the clubhouse in as few shots as possible. I wasn’t trying to lead the tournament today. It’s a long, long week-end and the golf course is only going to get more difficult. . . it’s always disappointing to bogey the last two holes in any tournament, but I would have taken 69 when I stood on the first tee,” said McDowell.

He added: “It is a course I am just learning how to play it. The more I play it the more I learn. If you hit it in the wrong place, you are in a lot of trouble so it needs a lot of concentration.. Hopefully I have plenty of that to hang in there over the weekend.”

For Furyk, time spent with his clubmakers at Srixon last week made the difference to an indifferent spell on tour. Yesterday, he was zoned in. “The key really was I hit a lot of really good iron shots and kept the ball in play with my driver. I made enough putts, but I didn’t have to knock in a bunch of bombs or anything,” explained Furyk, who hit every green in regulation. “That doesn’t happen too often around here,” he admitted.

Could this be the time that Furyk finally contends for a green jacket? “I’ve probably had to work a little bit harder on this one than most other majors. The US Open is probably the one that comes the most natural to me and it’s probably no secret that’s why I won it. . . . but this is the one I look forward to the most, I can promise you.”

Others feel the same way too. It should get tougher from now on in. As Furyk remarked when he heard that Harrington had reckoned it was the easiest set-up he’d experiences, “that will really make them mad.” You can be sure it will. Expect the course to fight back.

First round scores(US unless stated, Irish in bold, * denotes amateur)

65Chad Campbell

66Jim Furyk, Hunter Mahan

67Shingo Katayama (Japan), Larry Mize

68Tim Clark (South Africa), Angel Cabrera (Argentina), Mike Weir (Canada), John Merrick, Todd Hamilton, Aaron Baddeley (Australia), Sean O'Hair, Kenny Perry

69Kevin Sutherland, Ross Fisher (England), Padraig Harrington(Ireland), Graeme McDowell(Northern Ireland), Andres Romero (Argentina), Stewart Cink

70Prayad Marksaeng (Thailand), Nick Watney, Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spain), Bernhard Langer (Germany), Greg Norman (Australia), Lee Westwood (England), Zach Johnson, Tiger Woods

71Ken Duke, Henrik Stenson (Sweden), Vijay Singh (Fiji), Geoff Ogilvy (Australia), Steve Flesch, Ian Poulter (England), Jose Maria Olazabal (Spain), Martin Kaymer (Germany), Trevor Immelman (South Africa), Adam Scott (Australia), Jeev Milkha Singh (India)

72Sandy Lyle (Scotland), Dudley Hart, Dustin Johnson, Soren Hansen (Denmark), Stuart Appleby (Australia), Bubba Watson, DJ Trahan, * Jack Newman, Richard Sterne (South Africa), Paul Casey (England), Steve Stricker, Rory McIlroy(Northern Ireland)

73Briny Baird, Louis Oosthuizen (South Africa), Ben Curtis, Rory Sabbatini (South Africa), Luke Donald (England), Stephen Ames (Canada), Ryuji Imada (Japan), Phil Mickelson, Camilo Villegas (Colombia), Oliver Wilson (England), Sergio Garcia (Spain), Fred Couples, Rocco Mediate, Boo Weekley, Ben Crenshaw, Yang Youn-eun (South Korea), Robert Allenby (Australia), Robert Karlsson (Sweden), Ryo Ishikawa (Japan)

74Ian Woosnam (Wales), Justin Rose (England), Matt Goggin, Tom Watson, * Danny Lee (New Zealand)

75Chez Reavie, Carl Pettersson (Sweden), Justin Leonard, * Reiner Saxton (Netherlands), Retief Goosen (South Africa), Ernie Els (South Africa), Mark O'Meara, Pat Perez, Anthony Kim

76Soren Kjeldsen (Denmark), Brandt Snedeker, KJ Choi (South Korea)

77Billy Mayfair, Craig Stadler, Lin Wen-tang (Taiwan)

78Gary Player (South Africa), * Drew Kittleson, Alvaro Quiros (Spain) 79 Raymond Floyd, Fuzzy Zoeller, * Steve Wilson

80Michael Campbell (New Zealand)