There was a strange feeling in his gut, almost a queasiness, as he stepped to the first tee on Thursday.

A few years back, this sensation Paul Azinger was feeling might have been a cruel prelude to another hellish vomiting episode, a result of intensive chemotherapy and radiation treatments for cancer that would suck him dry.

But this was just before noon at the first round of the 61st Masters Tournament, and, for Azinger, it was the greatest feeling in the world.

``It was just nice to have some butterflies,'' said Azinger, who tamed the beast that was the Augusta National Golf Club, firing a 3-under-par 69. ``If you don't have those butterflies, it's probably because you don't feel like you have any chance.''

Though his lead held up only for a few hours, the 36-year-old is indeed in contention after another comeback plateau successfully scaled.

``I haven't hit it better all year,'' said the winner of the 1993 PGA Championship, who enters today's second round in third place, two shots behind surprise leader John Huston. ``I've had some good rounds here, but never a good first round here.''

Azinger's best Masters finish in nine previous tries was a tie for 14th in 1989. He's also coming off two straight solid showings, finishing 17th and 18th. But his absence here in 1994 still leaves the most painfully glaring mark on his Masters record.

Soon after the win at Inverness in '93, his only major championship in 15 years on the PGA Tour, the magical season when he finished second on the money list was over. The most frightening of years was about to begin.

``Before I got sick, I was playing at a level that you may never get back to,'' said Azinger, diagnosed in the fall of '93 with a lymphoma in his right shoulder blade. ``I could have been perfectly healthy and still never get back to where I was in '93.''

His miraculous defeat of cancer is well-documented, but the struggle to regain his competitive edge has been nearly as taxing.

After the chemo was done and his body revitalized, it was all too easy to mail it in on the golf course, all too tempting to spend time fishing instead of practicing. Or lounging around with his wife, Toni, and their two young daughters.

``Golf wasn't prioritized to me,'' Azinger said. ``Even though I wanted the result, I didn't put forth the effort. Situations didn't make me nervous. The first tee didn't do anything for me. So obviously my direction wasn't where it needed to be in order to play decent golf.''

``I was whining and complaining a little bit to my wife,'' he said. ``And she said, `Don't complain to me because you don't practice like you used to. Until you do, I don't want to hear it.' She was right. About then I decided to change my focus and practice a little harder. It just took a while to see some results.''

Azinger's longtime teacher, John Redman, noticed the difference.

``He's got that fire in him,'' Redman recently told Golf World. ``He thinks everybody's written him off, and he doesn't like that. He wants to come out with both barrels smoking.''

But it wasn't until last October in Las Vegas when Azinger truly felt he was back. He finished eighth, his best showing in '96.

``For a lot of people,'' Azinger said, ``they won't consider me all the way back until I win a golf tournament.''

For Azinger, a little queasiness to get the juices flowing could go a long way this weekend. Queasiness like he felt on the first tee Thursday.

``There's not many first shots in golf that will do that to you, get your blood pumping,'' he said. ``And that's what Augusta does to you.''