Davis Love III has a one-stroke lead. (AP photos) | ZOOM |

        AUGUSTA, Ga. — Augusta National wasn't the clear-cut winner everyone expected at the Masters, but it waswas plenty tough for Tiger Woods. On what might be the players' easiest day all week on the longer, more difficult course, Davis Love III shot a mistake-free 5-under 67 to take the lead Thursday after one round.

        Love, who hasn't finished higher than 16th all year, had his best opening round ever in the tournament, although it wasn't the kind of scoring that typically accompanies such friendly conditions.

        “The soft greens definitely helped,” Love said.

        It allowed players to go after some flags, although most of them still tiptoed around a course where nine of the holes have been lengthened, bunkers were stretched, tees were shifted to sharpen the doglegs and trees were planted to catch errant drives.

Sergio Garcia lost a share of the lead when he bogeyed 18. | ZOOM |

        Sergio Garcia birdied three straight holes to tie Love for the lead, but he missed a 3-foot par putt on the 18th hole for a 68 and was tied with Angel Cabrera of Argentina.

        It was Garcia's best round at Augusta, and he gave himself even higher marks considering he was hitting a 7-iron into greens where he used to only hit wedge.

        “You have to realize that the course was playing softer today,” Garcia said. “The wind was blowing very little, and look at the scores. This is an unbelievable field, so it shows the course ... it's just playing tough.”

        Phil Mickelson didn't take long to stir up some excitement. He missed two putts from 3 feet but also pitched in from 160 feet on the 11th hole for an unlikely birdie. He finished at 69, an excellent start in his quest to finally win a major. Even so, Mickelson declined to answer questions about his round.

Arnold Palmer shot 89 and announced he would play his final Masters round today. | ZOOM |

        Also at 69 was U.S. Open champion Retief Goosen, who had seven birdies to offset a double-bogey when he hit into Rae's Creek on the par-3 12th.

        Padraig Harrington of Ireland birdied six of the first 12 holes and had 184 yards for his second shot on the par-5 13th when he pulled his shot into a creek. He had three bogeys over his final six holes for a 69.

        Woods, the defending champ, hit into the Georgia pines twice and into the gallery once but still scratched out a 2-under 70 and was only three strokes back.

        Woods has never shot better than 70 in the first round of the Masters. But this time he was pleased after escaping from a forest of pines to make par on the final hole. “The way the golf course is playing, 70 is a lot better score than it would have been last year,” Woods said. “Even par or better today is going to be a good round.”

        Woods, trying to become only the third player to repeat as Masters champion, looked as if he might be in great shape when he birdied three straight holes early on and was leading the tournament.

        He gave them all back — hitting over the green on Nos.6 and 10 and hitting his tee shot into the trees on No.14, one of the nine holes lengthened at Augusta.

        Two birdies on the final four holes put him at the same first-round score as when he won his two green jackets, in 1997 and last year.

        “I just wanted to shoot even par or better,” Woods said. “It's not one of those golf courses where you can just turn it on. You've got to keep plugging.”

        Seven players failed to break 80. Stuart Appleby was penalized for touching his club in the water while trying to play out of the creek and had an 80. David Duval, a Sunday contender at Augusta the past four years, got off to a sluggish start with a 3-over 75. He hit into two bunkers on No.2 for a bogey, and took two shots to get out of the bunker on the 18th hole for another bogey.

        “It was a new ballgame today,” Duval said. “Nobody knew what a good score would be until we got out there and started to play.”

        No one could have guessed Love would be the leader.

        Typically a fast starter on the PGA Tour, he missed the cut in the last two tournaments he played, including last week in Atlanta when he had a 42 on the front nine and a 30 on the back nine.

        “All I had to do was eliminate the silly mistakes,” Love said.
       “I'm not shocked the way I played today. I'm shocked the way I played the last two weeks.”

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