Defending Masters champion Mark O'Meara drained an 8-foot birdie putt to cap a round of 2-under-par 70 and climb within one stroke of the leaders with play suspended.

``Last year when I was coming up 18 on Sunday afternoon, there were a lot more spectators and the opportunity was there to finally break through and win my first championship,'' said O'Meara, who nailed a 20-foot birdie putt on No. 18 last year to win the tournament. ``Needless to say I was pretty nervous. I wasn't quite as nervous today, but it's early in the week still.''

With darkness descending upon the Augusta National Golf Club course, O'Meara grabbed control of his see-saw round of birdies and bogeys on the par-4 18th hole. His pairing with U.S. Amateur Champion Hank Kuehne and Lee Westwood was the final group to finish all 18 holes before darkness.

``I wish I could have hit a better drive,'' O'Meara said about the 18th. ``I actually hit one over the bunkers, which is something I don't think I've ever done before.''

With 162 yards left to the pin, O'Meara knocked his 6-iron approach close enough to birdie.

``It was a good way to end,'' O'Meara said. ``The golf course is longer. The greens are firmer, and some of them are not up to speed like they normally are. So that's made it a little more difficult to judge the pace of the greens.''

That's not the only thing, however, that O'Meara had difficulty with.

``It's nice to get off to a good start,'' he said. ``But the thing that makes it difficult is from the standpoint of playing threesomes. Normally, you're used to playing in twosomes and cruising around here in a nice pace of play. I understand the size of the field had something to do with it. But it's definitely more difficult when you play a threesome, because you're looking at over a five-hour round. And today with the rain-delay it was a 6 1/2 -hour round. So mentally and physically it takes a lot more out of you.''

O'Meara offset bogeys on Nos. 4 and 12 with birdies on Nos. 2, 6, 11 and 18. And while he contends course changes this year are designed to help the longer hitter, he didn't have much of a problem himself.

``Fortunately, I hit a really good drive on 17 and hit a little 8-iron up short,'' O'Meara said. ``Lengthening the golf course still favors the long hitters. Anytime you make a golf course longer, it don't necessarily help me any more. Really, though, once again you've got to putt well around here. You've got to manage yourself well and putt well. If you can do those two things, then you're going to be in contention on Sunday.''