Vijay Singh was at the top of the Masters leaderboard. No surprise there.
Phil Mickelson was right in the mix. That's to be expected.
Tiger Woods got off to a sluggish start at Augusta National. Sounds about right.
PHOTO: AP
Still, there were plenty of surprises on Day 1: Rocco Mediate and Arron Oberholser were Singh's closest challengers, and Ben Crenshaw -- who was talking retirement a day earlier -- put himself in contention with a stunning round.
Showing no regard for the longer, tougher course, Singh put up a bogey-free, 5-under 67 that gave him a one-shot lead over Mediate on Thursday. Oberholser, a Masters rookie, was another shot back.
"I played pretty decent," Singh said. "I didn't make too many mistakes. I had a lot of chances early on and I putted very well."
Mickelson shot 70, part of a group three strokes off the lead that included two-time US Open champion Retief Goosen.
Mickelson said it's much easier to play the Masters now that he's a past champion, having won in 2004 when he captured his first major title. He added the US PGA Championship last year.
"It's a different feel teeing off in this tournament knowing you've won it," Mickelson said. "I always wanted to win it so bad ... that it was harder to let my swings go, relax and enjoy the day. I feel I can do that now."
Singh and Mediate had something in common. They were the first two players to make birdies on the 11th hole, a tough test that became even harder when Augusta National decided to lengthen its course to 7,445 yards -- the second-longest in major championship history behind Whistling Straits.
That's where the similarities end.
Singh is a three-time major champion who won the Masters in 2000. Mediate qualified for Augusta based on a sixth-place finish at the US Open last summer. Otherwise, he's been mired in one of the worst slumps of his career, finishing 114th on the money list a year ago -- an improvement on his 176th-place showing in 2004.
"I haven't been here in a while," Mediate quipped as he walked into the interview room. "Still the same, though."
Oberholser didn't have high expectations coming into his first Masters, and his attitude remained the same after he shot 69.
"No one expects me to win this championship," he said. "I don't expect me to win this championship. I have goals, sure, but they're very small ones. Baby steps, basically. This is not going to be my last Masters, that's for sure. Learning this course is paramount."
Woods, the defending champion, came in as an overwhelming favorite to win his fifth green jacket -- only Jack Nicklaus has more -- and felt good about his opening 72.
Woods finished strong with a birdie at No. 18, leaving him solidly in contention. Remember: He started last year with a 74, but went on to beat Chris DiMarco in a playoff.
"I thought I played really well, actually," said Woods, who's never broken 70 in the first round of the Masters. "I'm better than I was last year. I'm in good shape."
Plenty of golfers were struggling on the longer course.
US Open champion Michael Campbell had a 75. Two-time Master winner Jose Maria Olazabal struggled to a 76. So did American Ryder Cup captain Tom Lehman, two days after he was uninjured in a random, drive-by shooting on the way to pick up his family at the Augusta airport. David Duval had an 84 for his worst Masters round ever.
Mickelson and Goosen were joined at 70 by South Africa's Tim Clark and Australia's Geoff Ogilvy, another Masters rookie.
Two major winners from 2003, Mike Weir (Masters) and Ben Curtis (British Open), were part of the group at 71, joined by the biggest surprise of the day. Crenshaw broke par at Augusta National for the first time since he closed with a 68 in 1995 to capture his second green jacket.
"I had a few miracles out there," the Texan said.
A 26-year-old man was jailed Wednesday night on felony charges in the shooting of golfer Tom Lehman's car. Lehman wasn't hurt in the incident and will play when the Masters begins Thursday.
Troy Willis Smith of Augusta is being held on two counts each of aggravated assault and possession of a firearm in the commission of a crime, said Investigator Tom Johnson of the Richmond County Sheriff's Office. No court date has been set.
Lehman, the 1996 British Open champion, was on his way to the Augusta airport late Tuesday night to pick up his son, Johnson said. As he drove westbound on Bobby Jones Expressway, Lehman told police an older-model, four-door sport-utility vehicle sped past his 2006 luxury SUV and he heard a loud explosion. A bullet hole was found in the rear driver's side door.
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