THE MASTERS : Leaders Have a Wonderful Experience : Golf: 1987 champion Mize shoots 68 for one-shot advantage. Pin placements, wind toughen course.

One of the many unusual traits of Augusta National golf course is its ability to separate the stiffs from the stars--to present the kind of leader board that excites you. Even at the start.

So, there’s little surprise that after the first round of the Masters, the people who should be near the top are near the top. The common denominators are experience and ability, and in that order.

Larry Mize, whose miraculous 140-foot shot won the Masters in 1987, sits precariously atop the field after shooting a four-under-par 68. Being a veteran, Mize feels no great euphoria from leading, as golf tournaments can only be lost on Thursday, never won.

Sitting one stroke back at 69 are Tom Kite and South African Fulton Allem. At 70 are Raymond Floyd, Seve Ballesteros, Tom Watson, Greg Norman, Tom Lehman and Vijay Singh.

The group at 71 includes Corey Pavin, Gary Player and Chip Beck.

Experience was clearly the determining factor Thursday, as of the 16 players who finished under par, the youngest is Singh at 31. The average age of those players is a rather time-tested 38.6 years. In fact, an American contingent of Kite, Watson, Floyd and Mize have a combined 290 competitive rounds among them at Augusta National.

The course was made difficult by a wind that swirled up to 25 m.p.h. and pin placements that had a sadistic twist to them. Tournament officials feared that an overnight rain might make the greens too soft, so the pins were in some of the most difficult positions.

“The tougher the course, the better the top players like it,” Kite said. “You just couldn’t miss a little bit today. It’s hard to get a course to the edge, and I don’t think we’ve had a course this close to the edge since the U.S. Open at Pebble Beach (in 1992).”

Kite won at Pebble Beach in ’92.

Perhaps the most deceptive feast-or-famine hole was the 15th, a 500-yard, par five. This was the hole where Gene Sarazen got his famous double-eagle in 1935.

The pin was cut to the left front about four yards from the edge of the green and staring into a huge slope that leads to water. Norman described the area as “slick as a baby’s rear end.”

When the wind was down, several of the longer hitters tried to reach the green in two and succeeded--there were 21 birdies. But those who elected to lay up short of the water and try to finesse the ball to the cup with a wedge found trouble. Some evidence:

--Watson took an eight, hitting his fourth shot into the water from behind the green, dropping him out of the lead. “It’s a humbling game; you play 17 good holes and all anyone wants to talk about is your eight,” Watson joked.

--Norman reached the green with his second shot, but the ball rolled back into the water. He still got his par. “If you would have placed the ball in front of the hole, it still would have gone in,” Norman said.

--Mize ended up in the water and took a six. “All considered, it was a great bogey,” Mize said.

And then there was Nolan Henke, who had a 10, and Payne Stewart’s nine and Steve Elkington’s eight. All told, there were 41 pars, 10 bogeys, five double-bogeys, two triple-bogeys, two quadruple-bogeys and Henke’s quintuple-bogey.

Equally schizophrenic as the 15th hole was Norman’s round. He had one eagle, six birdies, five pars and six bogeys.

“I got the job done,” Norman said. “That’s what you’ve got to do in a major, but I just didn’t have a feel for distance today. . . . It was a tough day out there. Larry’s score requires a lot of patience. You just have to play with a lot of confidence.”

Mize’s confidence is well placed, given that he is a native Augustan. His first thought after his round was not about golf but whether the Atlanta Braves won Wednesday night’s late game against the San Diego Padres.

Mize, 35, won two PGA Tour events last year and finished 13th on the money list. He had $1.3 million in worldwide earnings.

Last February, he underwent arthroscopic surgery to remove torn cartilage in his right knee. Mize never thought he was in danger of missing the Masters, but there was concern.

“Right now, it feels fine,” he said. “But you never know with those sorts of things.”

Mize’s position is familiar. Last year, he led the Masters after an opening 67. He finished with rounds of 74-74-73, and tied for 21st place.

“It’s actually fun to be leading today,” he said. “And I think I enjoy it more than last year. . . . I don’t even remember last year, what with my son being born and all that about this time. Everything was a blur.”

The course probably will play a little easier today as the field starts to spread out. Nick Price, at 74, and Nick Faldo, at 76, are on the cusp of falling out of contention. But it should be remembered that eight Masters champions have won after shooting over par in the first round. The last was Jack Nicklaus in 1986.

And speaking of Jack, you can count him out. He and Arnold Palmer each shot a 78 and will probably have the weekend off.

Perhaps there are cases of having too much experience.