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Campbell’s round at Masters: Mmm, mmm good

The ball belonged to Tiger Woods. The feet belonged to Robert Mason, who was sitting behind the 18th green Thursday during the first round of the Masters in Augusta, Ga. Mason has been to the Masters for 30 years and knew not to move until a rules official gave him the OK.

The ball belonged to Tiger Woods. The feet belonged to Robert Mason, who was sitting behind the 18th green Thursday during the first round of the Masters in Augusta, Ga. Mason has been to the Masters for 30 years and knew not to move until a rules official gave him the OK.

AUGUSTA, Ga. – Chad Campbell kept pouring in birdies, five in a row to start his round, then four straight on the back nine as the gallery kept up its endless cheering on a day of record scoring.

There were 354 birdies and six eagles. There were 38 rounds under par, half of those in the 60s.

For all those staggering numbers, what made the Masters come to life Thursday was the sweetest of sounds.

The roars returned to Augusta National.

“This day was reminiscent of how it used to be,” Tiger Woods said. “You could go out there on that back nine and make some birdies, and if you caught some good gusts, you could shoot some pretty good numbers.”

No one did that better than Campbell.

The quiet Texan led a charge that dispelled the myth that the thrill was gone from the Masters, getting off to the best start in tournament history before two late bogeys forced him to settle for a 7-under-par 65 and a one-shot lead over ex-Arizona Wildcat Jim Furyk and Hunter Mahan.

Woods got into the action, too, running off three straight birdies late in the afternoon until his momentum stalled and he shot 70. Even so, it was his first time to break par in the first round of the Masters in seven years.

And more than 11 hours of action-packed golf gave the tournament the excitement it had been missing for most of the decade.

“It is nice to hear some noises again,” Sandy Lyle said.

Augusta National cooked up the perfect formula for record scoring – warm sunshine and only a gentle breeze, along with inviting hole locations and greens that were soft and smooth.

“They must have felt sorry for us,” Campbell said.

Masters chairman Billy Payne had said this year would be an important test to show that supersizing the golf course – it has been stretched more than 500 yards this decade – would not take the birdies out of the Masters.

The weather was ideal, yes, but the club did its part, too, with greens softer than they have been all week and hole locations that allowed players to attack the pins.

The 38 rounds under par – and the 19 rounds in the 60s – both set a Masters record for the first round.

Greg Norman played for the first time since 2002, and the 54-year-old Shark was shocked by all the changes. Even more shocking was that he shot a 70 and was mildly disappointed.

“Really could have shot a nice, mid-60s score today,” Norman said. “I’m not complaining.”

The average score was 72.25, nearly two shots easier than a year ago and the lowest since it was 72.06 in 1992.

“You could tell the way guys were tearing the place apart that . . . you could definitely go get it,” Woods said.

Citizen Online Archive, 2006-2009

This archive contains all the stories that appeared on the Tucson Citizen's website from mid-2006 to June 1, 2009.

In 2010, a power surge fried a server that contained all of videos linked to dozens of stories in this archive. Also, a server that contained all of the databases for dozens of stories was accidentally erased, so all of those links are broken as well. However, all of the text and photos that accompanied some stories have been preserved.

For all of the stories that were archived by the Tucson Citizen newspaper's library in a digital archive between 1993 and 2009, go to Morgue Part 2

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