David Duval grabs one-stroke lead

After nine pars in a row, Duval birdied the par-3 12th from 12 feet, eagled the par-5 15th after sticking a 5-iron 10 feet away, tapped-in a birdie at the 17th and birdied the 18th from 12 feet. "I got in a good mindset there, the best I have had in a while," Duval said. "I knew I had a couple of chances to get it going at the end and I did."

Duval is the world’s second-ranked player behind Tiger Woods despite having not won a PGA event since last year at Atlanta in the week before the Masters. He has never won a major but could change that by taking a green jacket tomorrow. "It would be the fulfillment of a dream and a lot of hardwork to win here," Duval said. "I came in prepared and was looking for good things to happen."

Woods, the pre-event favorite, ended with a bogey to stand at three-over 147. In 10 rounds here since winning in 1997, Woods is a combined one-over par. "I hit the ball well, but I’m not making the putts," Woods said. "That’s what you have to do here and I just haven’t done it."

Two-time US Open champion Els and 1998 PGA championship winner Singh each birdied the 18th to fire a 67 and stay on Duval’s heels. Els was three-under-par on the front nine but found Rae’s creek for a bogey on the par-5 13th. He recovered with birdies on the 15th, 16th and 18th holes.

Singh had his best round by two shots in seven Augusta trips. He was four-under on the front nine and recovered from a bogey at the par-5 13th with birdies at the par-5 15th and the finishing hole.

Mickelson birdied the 13th, 14th and 15th holes to briefly match Duval for the lead, but a bogey at the par-3 16th and missing a four-foot birdie putt at the 18th left him sharing second.

Sharing fifth at 141 were 1996 British Open champion Tom Lehman and 1996 US Open winner Steve Jones. Another shot back were two-time Masters champion Bernhard Langer of Germany, Spain’s Sergio Garcia, South Africa’s Retief Goosen, Loren Roberts and 1988 PGA championship winner Jeff Sluman.

Lehman squandered the first-round lead with a double bogey at the 18th and, after leading by four at one stage yesterday, blew it again with a double bogey at the 15th.

Garcia sprinted down the 16th fairway to mark a ball he feared might roll away from the cup, bringing back memories of his fairway run at last year’s PGA championship.

Clarke fired seven birdies, four in a row starting at the13th after going five-over in five holes starting at the seventh, then finished with a bogey to end a "topsy-turvy round."

Tommy Aaron, the 63-year-old winner here in 1973, became the oldest man to make the Masters cut at 146, one shot better than Woods. US amateur champion Davis Gossett was the only amateur to make the cut to 57 at 148.

Those missing the cut included Spain’s Jose Mariao Lazabal, England’s Lee Westwood, John Daly and Mark O’Meara. Australia’s Greg Norman birdied the 18th to qualify on the number despite his worst-ever Masters 80 score on Thursday.

Jack Nicklaus, a 60-year-old six-time Masters champion, fired a 70 to join the pack at 144, along with first-day leader Dennis Paulson, who had a 76. /p>