Tiger on prowl as Augusta first act is roaring success

Woods looks ominous but Harrington makes fine start in bid for three majors in row

(REUTERS)

On the day that Augusta at last recovered its roar, Tiger Woods just about remained King of the Jungle. As the light was eventually dying on an enthralling first round so the world No 1 was signing for a 70, which left the him five shots behind the leader, Chad Campbell. And even allowing for a final-hole bogey, it could have been an awful lot worse.

With seven holes to go Woods was nine off Campbell. At that stage Woods's countryman was striding towards a Masters record after going through the opening half in 31 shots, the best ever for an opening nine in this event. But where Campbell weakened, finishing bogey-bogey, the Woods momentum was appearing only to grow. Until the last, that is. He overshot the green, took five and spat in disgust. It all seemed so typical of Tiger; in fact it had been anything but. This was the first time Woods had broken par in the first round since 2002 when he also began with a round of two-under. Bad news for his rivals. He won his third Green Jacket that year. It would take a very brave or foolish punter to bet against him from plonking a fifth in his wardrobe. Despite the knee reconstruction, despite the eight-month absence.

Saying that it is a congested leaderboard. As the sun blazed down on Georgia, and the receptive greens made the sympathetic pin positions ever more inviting, the National was friendlier than it had been for a long time. In all, 38 players shot an under-par figure – a Masters record. Perhaps the critics who have lined to pillory the green-jackets for making Augusta too tough will now say it is too easy? Whatever, nobody else was moaning.

Padraig Harrington was just one of many to capitalise on its generosity as he fired a 69 to get his challenge for a third successive major off to a flyer. Meanwhile, the debutant Ross Fisher was the first Briton to show on three-under. And then there was Greg Norman.

At 54, the Great White Shark is making an emotional return to the golfing amphitheatre where his cries of anguish were always destined to drown out any exclamation of glory. So far, it has also been a pleasing return as an opening 70 reprised last year's stunning trip down memory fairway at The Open at Birkdale. Norman was understandably ecstatic, but when he looked up the standings there was a cruel reminder of his past Augusta agonies. Up there on five-under was Larry Mize, the local lad who denied him with a miraculous 40-yard chip-in way back in the 1987 play-off. Mize is in his 50s, himself, now and has been so far beyond his best that his worst has been threatening to lap him. Not yesterday. The merciless brute that has been Augusta suddenly became the compliant beauty of the late Eighties and Nineties.

And didn't the galleries enjoy it. "There's that noise again," so said Sandy Lyle to his playing partners as the raucous cheers were transported on the sultry breeze. Lyle's old compadre Ian Woosnam was even more prosaic. "It was like the good old days," crooned the Welshman. All of which would have been of absolutely no interest to Harrington as he tried to coat his Open and USPGA titles of 2008 in a Green Jacket.

Harrington has transformed himself into a major animal and doesn't much care whether they are earned with ticker tape flying all around him – or tumbleweed. Yesterday he was the grind personified as he posted a number he called "satisfactory".

After birdies on the 12th and 13th, the 37-year-old seemed destined to catch the pacesetters but as it turned out he had to show some characteristic fight to stay on three-under. A brilliant up-and-down at the 16th stopped him from recording back-to-back bogeys while a 20-footer from the back of the 17th green negated his slip-up on the 15th. "It's a long week," he said. "Thursday is all about staying in the tournament. I'm happy." He is rather ominous, too. The same could not be said about Phil Mickelson whose 73 was strangely flat when the benign conditions had demanded a Lefty surge. As the live broadcast eventually started, Woods was inevitably the primetime viewing. Yet it had been plain old Ross Fisher who had been the star of the opening act.

The fact that the unassuming 28-year-old was "slightly disappointed" about a 69 said so much about his morning's work. Fisher flew through the first eight holes in four-under and at that stage a quite magical beginning looked possible. But the Augusta back nine has a habit of not delivering on promises and despite three further birdies, Fisher had to be content with a three-under total. "Obviously I'm slightly disappointed to finish bogey-bogey," said Fisher reflecting on the bunkers he visited on the 17th and 18th. "But for my first Masters experience I thought I played very well. Overall I have to be pleased. It has always been a dream to get here and now I feel it suits me. I do hit the ball a long way and this a driver's paradise. It will be nice to go to bed tonight knowing that I left a few shots out there and that I can go lower."

Since winning last year's European Open at The London Club, Fisher's progress has been impressive. At the World Match Play in Tucson in February he claimed the scalp of Jim Furyk on his way to the semi-final, an achievement which established the 28-year-old in the world's top 40. Not bad for a boy from the less privileged side of the fairway. At 13, Fisher was accepted on a junior scholarship at the ultra-exclusive Wentworth club in Surrey and he has since cashed in his golden ticket in full.

Yet the rags-to-riches feel of Fisher was nothing compared to his playing partner. There are actual rags in the tale of Prayad Marksaeng, the Thai who shot a 70. As a child, Marksaeng shared a room with 10 siblings. He did not attend school. He worked a 16-hour day, riding a bicycle taxi from 4am to 10am, caddying from 10.30am until 4pm and then selling vegetables on trains from 4.30pm to 8.30pm. At 14 he made a club out of a bamboo stick, with a bicycle tyre for a grip and a spoon lashed to the end as the face. He used it for every shot and built a new one every month. Now that is a story.

Shot of the day

Tiger Woods was in the trees on the 11th. Somehow the world No 1 managed to manoeuvre the ball under the branches at the same time as twisting it from left to right before landing it in front of the green and running it up to within five feet of the pin.

Rollercoaster of the day

Sandy Lyle has always been an exciting golfer but yesterday's 72 was adventurous even by his standards. He began with a double bogey and then reeled off four birdies and two bogeys to finish at level par. A hell of a performance for a 51-year-old.

Nightmare start

Justin Rose was going along nicely at two-under after nine and had even given himself a shout of assuming the firstround lead for the fourth time in as many Masters. But then disaster struck. Double bogeys on the 11th, 12th and 17th left him with a 74.