Chad starts with birdie blitz

Of all the unlikely possibilities to come out of the first round of the Masters...

Of all the unlikely possibilities to come out of the first round of the Masters on Thursday,Chad Campbell finishing with consecutive bogeys for a 65 might have topped the list. But when a perfect day for scoring at Augusta National Golf Club coincides with a benign course set up by the competition committee,anything can happen.

And that means anything at all,like three 50-somethings Larry Mize,Bernhard Langer and Greg Norman taking down the three highly touted teenagers,Rory McIlroy,Danny Lee and Ryo Ishikawa. Mize shot 67,Norman shot 70 and Langer shot 70,while McIlroy shot 72,Ishikawa shot 73 and Lee shot 74.

Meanwhile,most of the field partied like it was 1992,with 19 rounds in the 60s breaking the record of 18 shot that year and 38 sub-par rounds breaking the record of 35,also set that year. The onslaught was led by Campbell.

He birdied the first five holes for the best start in the history of the tournament. Definitely happy the way the round started, said Campbell,whose seven-under-par total gave him a one-stroke lead over Jim Furyk and Hunter Mahan.

Campbell kept his round going with saves at the 10th and 11th holes before reeling off a string of four straight birdies from No. 12 to No. 15 that put him at nine under. That put the tournament course record of 63 in his sights,but the bogeys at 17 and 18 took care of that.

Playing easy

Tiger Woods,who shot his customary opening round of two-under 70,was pleased with the way he hit the ball and somewhat surprised by how easy the course played. When I got to the course I expected the lead to be about five under, Woods said. I knew it was playing easy,but didnt expect it to be that easy.

Woods,who also bogeyed No. 18 when his approach shot bounced through the green and he failed to get up and down,was not displeased by his score. He did not birdie a hole until he played a low,hard wedge into No 9,spinning the shot dead about 4 feet from the hole and making the putt. He birdied 13,14 and 15 and just missed a birdie at 17.

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He has never opened with a round lower than 70 here. A reporter asked him: What is it about the first day here? Seventy is the best youve done. Woods fixed him with a tight smile. I also won it four times, he said.

Although Campbell looked unbeatable for most of Thursday,as Woods said,There is a long way to go.

Three days is a long time to carry a lead. There have been 52 golfers who have had the solo lead in the Masters in the previous 72 years it has been played. Only 10 went on to win the tournament.

Leaderboard

1 C Campbell,USA -7 65

2 J Furyk,USA -6 66

3 H Mahan,USA -6 66

4 S Katayama,JPN -5 67

5 L Mize,USA -5 67

6 A Baddeley,AUS -4 68

7 A Cabrera,ARG -4 68

8 T Clark,RSA -4 68

9 T Hamilton,USA -4 68

10 J Merrick,USA -4 68