The Associated Press

MIAMI - The fairways on the Blue Monster at Doral are wider than 12 yards. The rough is not waist-high. There is plenty of sand and water, but nothing that remotely resembles pot bunkers or Barry's Burn.

That's good news for Rod Pampling, the first-round leader Thursday in the Ford Championship at Doral with eight birdies in a round of 64.

It was the first time the 33-year-old Aussie has held a first-round lead at a PGA Tour event since the 1999 British Open at Carnoustie.

What happened after that is now part of golf trivia: Pampling is the only player in the 142-year history of the British Open to lead after the first round and then miss the cut.

"Obviously, it wasn't great," Pampling said. "It really didn't bother me because I knew I didn't play bad, the conditions were just unbelievably tough. You gradually progress in the game and learn to deal with different things.

"It's just nice to have one under my belt, to actually lead a major."

Pampling made it look easy with only one of his eight birdies longer than 12 feet, and had a one-stroke lead over Bob Tway.

"It will be exciting if we finish up leading," Pampling said. "It's not Sunday, so there is nothing to get excited about."

Tway, the former PGA champion, looked like he might be tied for the lead or even better after reaching 8 under through 14 holes. He tried to hit a hard 7-iron on the 15th, but the ball got caught up in the wind and buried in a bunker.

"I was scrambling to make bogey," Tway said after his 65. "We're always thinking it could be better. I think you have to be realistic."

Scott Hoch and British Open runner-up Thomas Levet were at 66, while Carlos Franco of Paraguay finally showed some life and was in the group at 67.

Hoch was happy to be playing.

His left wrist started bothering him Wednesday and got progressively worse. He tried to hit balls, with first alternate Vance Veazey standing by, and only when he got to the final 10 swings did Hoch feel good enough to go.

He birdied four of the first eight holes and was right in the mix.

Jack Nicklaus, 63, birdied the last two holes for a 1-over 73, which left him nine strokes out of the lead but better off than several players half his age.

Nicklaus, still trying to decide whether to play in his 44th Masters, hit an iron into the 528-yard eighth hole for a two-putt birdie, then holed a 15-foot putt on his final hole, the par-3 ninth.

"I have a nonexistent short game and it showed," Nicklaus said, rarely satisfied. "I hit the ball decently, but I had some sloppy swings and that sort of killed the round."

Still, he was one stroke better than David Duval, who continues to struggle off the tee. Duval had to take an unplayable lie on the par-5 12th, leading to a double bogey, and he went out in 40 before rallying with an eagle-birdie start on his back nine.

"What do you do?" Duval said. "Come back and try again tomorrow."

He'll have to try hard to make the cut for only the second time in four stroke-play tournaments. Seventy-six players broke par on the Blue Monster, which no longer lives up to its reputation without blustery conditions.

"I just think players are getting better," Pampling said. "Maybe it's losing its reputation."

Pampling would dearly love to shed his reputation as the first-round leader who missed the cut at the British Open.

He already contended once this year, a tie for 10th at Pebble Beach, and his game looked plenty solid in the tame morning conditions at Doral.

On three of the par 5s, he was around the green in two and easily got up-and-down for birdies. The rest of the day, he was hitting wedges inside 12 feet. The only exception came at No. 17, where he blasted an 8-iron out of the rough to 30 feet and holed the putt.

"I did everything quite nicely," Pampling said. "Everything was a tap-in on the par 5s, we made a couple of nice ones and ended up being 8 (under)."

DUBAI DESERT CLASSIC: Ernie Els shot a 6-under-par 66 Thursday and was one stroke behind Scotland's Alistair Forsyth after the first round of the $1.9 million Dubai Desert Classic.

Els, the defending champion and winner of four of five events he has played in this season, is the top-ranked player in the tournament.

Tiger Woods pulled out because of a possible U.S.-led attack of Iraq. Former champion Colin Montgomerie of Scotland and Nick Faldo of England also withdrew because of tension in the area.

MASTERS: The lead critic of Augusta National Golf Club's all-male membership asked permission Thursday for more than 200 people to stage a one-day protest during the Masters tournament, with a small number posted at the gate to Magnolia Lane.

Martha Burk, chair of the National Council of Women's Organizations, wants a permit for 24 protesters to stand at either side of the club's main gate, where a public sidewalk runs along Washington Road.

Burk also is seeking permission for an additional 200 people to demonstrate on Washington Road across the street from the club. The protest would take place during the third round of the Masters on April 12.

Augusta National declined to comment on whether Burk should be allowed to protest outside its gates.