The five amateurs competing in the 2002 Masters learned an important lesson in first-round action Thursday: During the first week of April in Augusta, golf isn't just a sport - it's a mind game.

"I tried to eat breakfast, but it didn't taste real good," 20-year-old Chez Reavie said after completing play. "I took one bite of a doughnut and had to throw it away."

Augusta National Golf Club also took a bite out of the amateurs.

Reavie, a sophomore at Arizona State University, shot a first-round 74 to lead the amateur contingent. British Amateur champion Michael Hoey was at 75, and U.S. Mid-Amateur champion Tim Jackson came in with 76. U.S. Amateur runner-up Robert Hamilton had a 77, while U.S. Amateur winner Bubba Dickerson shot 79.

The Masters mystique is part of the fun, but it also takes a toll. Last year, no amateur made the 36-hole cut.

"I wasn't nervous on the putting green," Reavie said. "Then on the first tee, I was numb. I didn't feel a thing in my whole body; I just swung."

The lore, and a longer Augusta National, added up to a difficult day, according to Hoey.

"I was thinking too much about the tournament, just the whole Masters thing," he said. "I just lost some things upstairs. I was looking around too much. I wasn't looking at the ball."

Jackson was the only amateur with previous Masters experience. The 43-year-old from Germantown, Tenn., was going along well until making a triple bogey on the par-3 16th.

"This course gives it to you and then it takes it away," he said. "Three or four poor iron shots cost me, but I hung in there and battled. That's what you have to do."

Each amateur played with a former Masters champion, and the veterans did their best to ease the pressure.

"Playing with Tiger was a lot of fun," Dickerson said. "I missed a putt on No. 2, and he said, 'You did better than I did my first time here - I putted off the green."'

Reavie said he and playing partner Tom Watson talked through the round, and there was one telling comment from the veteran.

"I told him how nervous I was, and he said, 'You're not the only one,"' Reavie said.