It wasn't a mistake-free round of golf by Davis Love III, just a bogey-free one. And that, along with five birdies, was good enough for the first-round lead in the 66th Masters Tournament.

On a day when one of his heroes, Arnold Palmer, announced that this would be his last Masters, Love was the only player of the 88 starters to make his way around the toughened-up Augusta National Golf Club without a bogey on his scorecard.

Love had birdies on Nos. 2, 3, 9, 14 and 15 to go with 13 pars for a 5-under-par 67 at Augusta National, which added 285 yards this year and plays to 7,270 yards.

Love, a Sea Island, Ga., resident who is a two-time Masters runner-up, carries a one-shot lead into today's second round.

Sergio Garcia of Spain and Angel Cabrera of Argentina shot 68s while 69s were fired by Retief Goosen of South Africa, Padraig Harrington of Ireland and Phil Mickelson.

Eleven of the top 17 golfers were international players, including four of the top five. Ten of the top 12 players in the Official World Golf Ranking were within two shots of the lead. David Duval and Darren Clarke were the only ones missing from Thursday's leaderboard.

The highest score of the day was an 89, by Palmer, who is playing in his 48th Masters.

The tournament is going through a period of transition, but fans were hoping it wouldn't include Palmer making his exit from the Masters.

But after his round, Palmer said it's time to say farewell to the tournament he respects more than any other.

The 72-year-old Palmer, who has won more Masters (four) than any other golfer except Jack Nicklaus (six), plays his final competitive round at Augusta National today.

Palmer, the most popular player in the history of the game, will tee off at 1:05 p.m. in what is expected to be the most emotional round in tournament history.

"This is it," Palmer said.

Palmer joked that he made the decision because he didn't want to "get a letter" from the club suggesting that he no longer play in the tournament, as three former champions did this year.

For one of the few times since he joined the PGA Tour in 1986, Love was not mentioned among the favorites this week because of his struggles this season. He's missed five cuts in 11 starts, doesn't have a top 15 finish and is 88th on the money list with less than $200,000.

Once a solid top-five player in the World Golf Ranking, Love is hanging on to the No. 10 spot this week.

Last week, when Love was missing the cut in the BellSouth Classic (72-75), he said his scores are misleading, that he wasn't playing as poorly as it appeared.

"I'm not shocked at the way I played; I'm shocked at the way I've played the last four weeks, because I've really been swinging much better," Love said Thursday. "When I've hit a bad shot recently, it's gotten a bad break and then I've compounded it, several times, and turned them into big numbers. I just haven't taken a bad shot well."

Love was strong in all areas Thursday, finishing tied for third in greens in regulation (14), tied for ninth in putting (27) and 10th in driving distance (299.5 yards).

"I promised myself this week that no matter where I hit it, I was going to try to hit the next one better and be patient with myself and enjoy playing the game," Love said. "I don't think I've enjoyed playing. I've been pushing too hard and trying to make things happen."

Defending champion Tiger Woods opened with the same score he shot in first round of the years he has won the Masters, 1997 and 2001. He shot a 70, but the world's No. 1-ranked player is in better shape than he was last year.

Woods' opening-round score last year put him five shots off the lead, in a tie for 15th place. This year, with the tougher course, Woods is three back and tied for seventh place.

Everyone wondered how the field would fare on the "new course" in the first round.

The numbers are in, and they're mainly green, which signifies even par and over-par figures on the Augusta National scoreboards. Of the 88 starters (Hal Sutton withdrew before the round with a pulled muscle in his rib cage), 64 were over par.

The scoring average of 74.118 was nearly a shot higher than in 2001's first round.

A breakdown of the numbers Thursday shows:

• Six rounds in the 60s, compared with 14 rounds in 2001.

• Twenty-one sub-par rounds, compared with 32 in 2001.

• Twenty-four par or better rounds, compared with 42 in 2001.

The number of birdies were down slightly, and pars and bogeys were way up. There were 251 birdies, compared with 266 in 2001. The number of pars dropped from 1,056 in 2001 to 937 on Thursday, and bogeys went from 280 in 2001 to 338 on Thursday.

"Look at the scores; it's tough out there," said Nick Price, who shot 70, seven shots off the Augusta National course record he and Greg Norman share.

Added Garcia: "This is an unbelievable field. It just shows this golf course is playing tough."

The numbers were a true reflection of the effect of the new yardage. Though Augusta National Chairman Hootie Johnson said Wednesday that the club might not use all the yardage on the new tees each day, every inch of the new tees on the nine lengthened holes was used.

"They had them back there," said Tom Lehman, who shot 76. "They played the full 7,200 yards."

"They are trying to set it up very difficult," said PGA Championship David Toms, who had a 73. "It's kind of like a U.S. Open."

The length wasn't the only problem the field faced.

An added problem was mud on the ball from the soft and wet fairways. Scott Hoch, who shot 76, said it cost him at least five shots. Scott Verplank and Chris DiMarco were also among the many players who lost shots because of the uncertain flight of the ball with mud on it. Verplank's second shot on the 17th hole "went sideways" because of mud on his ball, he said.

The players did get a break with softer and slower greens, compliments of the Tuesday night and Wednesday morning rain. The moisture took some of the fire out of the greens.

"They were a smidge slower than the practice rounds," said Kevin Sutherland, who shot 78.

As for Palmer, he had pretty much decided that this would be his last Masters even before he teed off Thursday. A four-putt on the first hole only confirmed his feelings.

"I think it's time," said Palmer, the Masters champion of 1958, 1960, 1962 and 1964, who hasn't made the cut here since 1983. "My golf has been pretty lousy of late, and I don't warrant being here playing."

Woods was paired with Palmer in the Par-3 Contest on Wednesday. It was there he got the sense that Palmer had decided this would be his last Masters, Woods said.

"There will come a point in time where it will be neat to be able to tell my grandkids that I played with the great Arnold Palmer," Woods said. "Even though it was a Par-3 Course. It was his last Masters, I can always say that."

Woods, who is seeking to become just the third player to win back-to-back Masters titles and the seventh to have three career victories at Augusta National, came out firing Thursday. He struck for birdies on Nos. 3, 4 and 5, but then leveled off. After making bogeys on Nos. 6, 10 and 14, Woods didn't make another birdie until No. 15. He also birdied No. 17.

"I got off to a good start and then kind of grinded my way around the golf course," Woods said. "I made a couple of mistakes here and there, but just hung in there and stayed very patient. I didn't hit the best shots today, but I just hung in there."

Like Woods, Augusta native Charles Howell started quickly and couldn't keep it going. Howell, 22, was 1-under par after five holes, but ended up with a 74 after making a double bogey on the 16th hole. Howell did close out his round with a birdie on the tough 18th hole.