The two most-heralded golfers in the Masters field played workmanlike opening rounds Thursday that kept them in contention but out of the spotlight that shone on the young leaders, Rory McIlroy and Alvaro Quiros.
Defending champion Phil Mickelson bogeyed No. 18 to shoot a 2-under-par 70 that placed him in a tie for 14th, five strokes off the lead. Tiger Woods stood six back after posting a 71 and joining a logjam in 24th place.
Mickelson, teeing off in the next-to-last group of the day, posted seven consecutive pars to start his round. He birdied the par-5 No. 8 and parred the ninth to make the turn at 1-under.
He displayed some of his typical dramatics on the par-5 13th hole, which Wednesday he described as his favorite hole on the course. Mickelson sliced his drive into the azaleas left of the fairway, but he pitched out safely and saved par. Playing with two drivers in his bag, he hit just four of 14 fairways, although he managed to hit 12 of 18 greens. Birdies at Nos. 14 and 15 vaulted him to 3 under before a pulled drive on the final hole forced him to play away from the flag. He just missed the green to the left and failed to salvage a par.
"I missed it in spots where I could get up and down, in spots that I knew the chip, I had a good angle," Mickelson said. "And that's why I was disappointed on 18. I tried to miss it left, I'm shooting right up the pin, and it was a pretty shot, and I didn't get it up and down."
Woods' round featured relatively few highlights. Going off early in the day in the morning chill, he missed makeable birdie putts on the first and second holes. Overall, he took 30 putts on the day, continuing his inconsistency on the greens.
"I hit a lot of beautiful putts," Woods said after the round. "A lot of beautiful putts. And they were just skirting the edge. So hopefully they will start going in."
The four-time Masters champion, now ranked No. 7 in the world, showed flashes of his old self. After slicing his drive into the pines on No. 3 and running his punch-out over the green, he saved par with a towering flop shot that landed like a pillow and stopped inches from the hole. He made another impressive par save at the par-3 12th, getting up and down from a difficult lie and reversing the negative momentum from bogeys at 10 and 11. Woods birdied the par-4 No. 14 with a long putt into the back of the hole and parred in from there.
Woods' score was only three strokes higher than his career-low first round at the Masters. In his four victories at Augusta National, he opened with a 70 three times (1997, 2001 and 2002) and a 74 once (2005).
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