A Mint Rookie Card

Well, so much for local knowledge. Augusta National is supposed to be the private playground of the ultimate insiders, where you can succeed only if you know every pine needle by name, every tree by its bark and every green by its bite.

So there can be no explanation for what went on here Thursday at the Masters, where a lot of the players who went low were a lot like first-round leader Chris DiMarco. If they’d put all their Masters experience together, it wouldn’t have filled the pocket of a green jacket.

DiMarco, a 32-year-old from Orlando, Fla., made his Masters debut a memorable one, turning in a seven-under-par 65 that was worth a one-shot lead over Angel Cabrera, who has been here once before, and Steve Stricker, who has been here four times.

Phil Mickelson, Lee Janzen and John Huston shot 67s on a mostly gray and humid day with only a hint of a breeze. They were followed closely by 23-year-old amateur James Driscoll, a Masters rookie, in a group at four-under 68 that included Chris Perry, Kirk Triplett and Miguel Angel Jimenez.

At least those guys have been around here often enough to know Clifford Roberts from Loren Roberts. But on opening day at the 65th Masters it was clear that to beat Augusta National, you didn’t have to experience it, you just had to play it.

DiMarco has one PGA Tour victory in seven years, which must have given him the confidence to put down Augusta National a little.

“I mean, I heard how hard the course was and not [to] hit it here and not [to] hit it there,” he said. “You know, if you play well, I don’t care where you are playing, you are going to play well.

“Experience is obviously very big. I would love to have three or four years [of Masters experience] behind me Sunday afternoon, or even tomorrow afternoon. But I don’t, so I can’t harp on the fact that I don’t have the experience. I’ve just got to go out and play golf.”

If he goes out and plays golf as he did Thursday, Tiger Woods and everyone else will have some serious catching up to do. Woods begins today five shots behind DiMarco, after opening with a 70 that was noteworthy for the number of birdie chances he couldn’t convert.

Woods had only one birdie in the last nine holes, to go with seven pars and a bogey.

“There are four days,” said Woods, who birdied only one par five. “Everyone knows it’s awfully hard to go out there and shoot in the mid-60s every day in a major.”

And it could turn out that way for DiMarco. The last time a Masters rookie went as low to lead the first round was in 1990, when Mike Donald shot 64. Unfortunately for Donald, he followed with an 82 and wound up tied for 47th.

Thirty-two players broke par and 11 more equaled it, taking advantage of Augusta National’s usually concrete-hard greens made soft by rain early in the week. Shots that often bounce off the greens and into trouble were sticking on the soft, green mattresses.

Mickelson made five birdies in a six-hole stretch on the back, from No. 12 through No. 17, and credited the friendly greens.

“You could stop the ball somewhat close to the hole, where in years past, when they dry up they are very difficult,” he said. “And as the week wears on, they will dry out and they will be more difficult. We’ll see a lot fewer birdies.”

Maybe, but there were 266 of them piling up Thursday.

“The course was there for the taking,” said Nick Price, who failed to take it, shooting a 73.

“The greens are soft, sure, you still have some speed in them, but I’m surprised the scores aren’t even lower.”

Stuart Appleby, who played with Driscoll, said the course wasn’t baring its teeth, as it usually does.

“The course was easy,” Appleby said.

It wasn’t that much a softy for Davis Love III, who wrenched a 71 out of the place and didn’t feel that great about it.

“I didn’t play very well,” he said. “[Thursday] was the day to shoot a good score. The members won’t like that, but we do.”

If anyone liked Augusta National more than Mickelson did, it would be hard to believe. After he bogeyed the 11th to fall back to even par, he went on a tear. He birdied the next four holes, twice rolling in putts of 20 feet.

When Mickelson’s eight-iron stopped a foot from the pin at the 17th, he tapped in for another birdie and wrapped up his third-best round of the 31 he has played at the Masters.

Mickelson would like more of the same the next three days as he searches Augusta National for his first major title.

“I think that this is by far the best opportunity to win a major,” he said. “This tournament is very consistent, where a short game is an integral part of it. Chipping and putting is one of the biggest, well, it is the biggest part of this tournament, as well as driving the ball a good distance.”

And as it may turn out, experience could count for something too. Even if it didn’t wield much influence this time.

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX / INFOGRAPHIC)

LEADERBOARD

At Augusta, Ga.--Par 72

18-Hole Scores

Chris DiMarco: 65

Angel Cabrera: 66

Steve Stricker: 66

OTHERS

Phil Mickelson: 67

Vijay Singh: 69

Tiger Woods: 70

Sergio Garcia: 70

Greg Norman: 71

Jack Nicklaus: 73

Greg Puga: 76