Vijay Singh fired a five-under par 67, his lowest opening round in 13 starts at intimidating Augusta National Golf Club, to seize a one-stroke lead on Thursday after the first round of the Masters.
Only three players broke 70 over the lengthened layout, the second-longest in major championship history at 7,445 yards.
But even more daunting for rivals was the 43-year-old Fijian's declaration that his lead came rather easily.
"It wasn't difficult for me to shoot 67," Singh said. "I left a lot of shots out there. But I made the putts that counted... This is probably one of the better rounds I have played here."
The bogey-free round by Singh matched his second-best at Augusta, trailing only a second-round 65 in 2002, and gave him a one-stroke edge on American Rocco Mediate and a two-stroke lead on his US playing partner Arron Oberholser.
"Vijay is great to play with," Masters debutante Oberholser said. "He moves very methodically and not too quickly. You can feed off a guy like that and I fed off it a little bit and started to hit some good shots."
Defending champion Tiger Woods, seeking a fifth Masters title and 11th major crown, fired a 72, his best Masters start since a 2002 victory. He opened on 74 in 2005, seven strokes behind Chris DiMarco, but beat him in a playoff.
"Better than I was last year, so I'm in good shape," Woods said. "I thought I could have gotten under par but it just didn't happen. I hit the ball well all day. I controlled my shots well. I just didn't get a whole lot out of it."
Woods sank a 35-foot birdie putt at the 18th hole but struggled in firm, fast conditions that took the measure of most players. "We were all curious how it was going to hold up playing fast," Woods said. "With the wind supposed to blow 20 mph tomorrow, it might make things a little interesting."
Singh, the 2000 Masters winner and a two-time PGA Championship winner, has eight top-10 finishes in 11 world-wide starts this year. He considers himself a better manager of his game than when he won here in 2000.
"I didn't make mistakes. I putted very well," Singh said. "I think I manage my game a little bit better. My mis-hits are a lot better. I know when to attack the pins and when not to."
Singh and Mediate each made three birdies in a row starting at 13 and birdied the par-4 11th, lengthened into the toughest hole on the course. "You're not supposed to do that on that hole," Mediate said. "I apologised to the hole as I left."
The difference came when Singh birdied from 15 feet on the par-4 seventh, another lengthened hole. Mediate, who only qualified by sharing sixth at last year's US Open, began with 10 pars in a row.
"This course now in these conditions par is a good score," Mediate said. "If you had said I could have 18 straight pars around here I would have taken it, especially the way the course is playing."
South Africans Retief Goosen and Tim Clark shared fourth on 70 with Australian Geoff Ogilvy and US star Phil Mickelson, a winner by 13 strokes last week who won here in 2004 and last year at the PGA Championship. "I played far from perfect but hit a lot of good shots," Mickelson said.
Goosen, a two-time US Open champion in tough conditions, warned that the greens could become burned out and over the edge as they were in his 2004 Open triumph at Shinnecock.
"I've played on that sort of conditions before and won so I have some confidence about playing that way," Goosen said. "If it gets windy and drying out really quickly, the greens are going to get funny."
Ben Crenshaw, 54, fired a 71 to share eighth with past Masters winners Fred Couples and Mike Weir plus major-winning US players Ben Curtis and Rich Beem, England's David Howell, South African Ernie Els, Aussies Stuart Appleby and Nick O'Hern and Americans Chad Campbell and Billy Mayfair.
Crenshaw's surge came 11 years after his 1995 Masters triumph, which came 11 years after his first Masters victory.
"I had a few miracles happen out there," Crenshaw said. "It's quite a test. It's one difficult hole after another.
"In many ways, this is a new course for all of us with the new tee boxes. We don't know how the course will play. It plays much more different than it used to."
(Par-72, Augusta National - 7445 yards)
a- denotes amateur
67 - Vijay Singh (FIJ) 35-32
68 - Rocco Mediate 36-32
69 - Arron Oberholser 35-34
70 - Tim Clark (RSA) 35-35, Retief Goosen (RSA) 36-34, Geoff Ogilvy (AUS) 36-34, Phil Mickelson 35-35
71 - Ben Crenshaw 37-34, Rich Beem 35-36, David Howell (ENG) 36-35, Mike Weir (CAN) 35-36, Fred Couples 34-37, Nick O'Hern (AUS) 38-33, Ben Curtis 33-38, Billy Mayfair 35-36, Stuart Appleby (AUS) 34-37, Chad Campbell 33-38, Ernie Els 36-35
72 - Rod Pampling (AUS) 34-38, Miguel Angel Jimenez (ESP) 35-37, David Toms 36-36, Tiger Woods 36-36, Ted Purdy 37-35, Brandt Jobe 36-36, Carl Pettersson (SWE) 37-35, Darren Clarke (NIR) 34-38, Stewart Cink 34-38, Sergio Garcia (ESP) 34-38, Adam Scott (AUS) 36-36
73 - Lucas Glover 37-36, Robert Allenby (AUS) 40-33, Fred Furyk 36-37, Jason Bohn 37-36, Thomas Bjorn (DEN) 37-36, Padraig Harrington (IRL) 40-33, Angel Cabrera (ARG) 36-37
74 - Olin Browne 38-36, Ben Crane 37-37, Todd Hamilton 38-36, Luke Donald (ENG) 37-37, Stephen Ames (CAN) 37-37, Zach Johnson 39-35, Scott Verplank 35-39, Colin Montgomerie 38-36, Joe Ogilvie 40-34, John Daly 39-35, Davis Love 37-37
75 - Larry Mize 39-36, Trevor Immelman (RSA) 39-36, Taylor Vaughn 38-37, Michael Campbell (NZL) 36-39, Justin Leonard 38-37, Lee Westwood (ENG) 36-39, Shingo Katayama (JPN) 37-38
76 - Rory Sabbatini (RSA) 40-36, Tom Lehman 38-38, Jose Maria Olazabal (ESP) 38-38, Tim Herron 38-38, Sean O'Hair 38-38, Bart Bryant 37-39, Peter Lonard (AUS) 40-36, Fred Funk 40-36, KJ Choi (KOR) 37-39, Chris DiMarco 39-37
77 - Ian Woosnam (WAL) 39-38, Henrik Stenson (SWE) 36-41, Craig Stadler 41-36
78 - Fuzzy Zoeller 39-39, Paul McGinley (IRL) 41-37, Thongchai Jaidee (THA) 41-37, Thomas Levet (FRA) 41-37
79 - Nick Faldo (ENG) 39-40, Ray Floyd 40-39, Gary Player (RSA) 38-41, 38-41, Tom Watson 39-40, Shigeki Maruyama (JPN) 39-40, Bernard Langer (GER) 40-39, Kevin Marsh 39-40 -a
80 - Charles Howell 40-40, Brian McElhinney (IRL -a) 42-38, Mark Calcavecchia 39-41, Edoardo Molinari (ITA -a) 39-41, Mark Hensby (AUS) 40-40, Sandy Lyle (SCO) 41-39
82 - Dillon Dougherty -a 41-41, Shaun Micheel 41-41, Mark O'Meara 45-37
83 - Clay Ogden -a 44-39
84 - David Duval 41-43
89 - Charles Coody 44-45
(All 90 players have completed their rounds).