This year also marked the first time (Tiger) Woods played Augusta without his father. Earl Woods died last May after a long bout with cancer, and when Woods dropped by the golf writers' dinner to pick up yet another player of the year award on the eve of the tournament, he repeated something his father told him during one of their last conversations. It couldn't have been more succinct.

"Go kick their ass," Earl said.

- Jim Litke,

Associated Press

(Phil) Mickelson insists that he's fully recovered from last season's systematic breakdown after his choke on the last hole of the U.S. Open. He's finished tied for 22nd (British Open) and tied for 16th (PGA Championship) in his last two majors. He attributed his abysmally poor second half last season to equally awful physical conditioning.

Mickelson must get back into this Masters to truly convince everyone that the emotional scars from a year ago have healed. This is his home. Augusta is his comfort zone, with two green jackets in the last three years.

Yet he looked Thursday like a nervous first-timer, as the swirling, ever-changing winds proved challenging. Mickelson said there was a 35-foot chip on 17 that the wind took left. What shocked him was that another breeze bent the flag stick right.

"If I make the short (putts) it's a good solid round of even par," he said. "I've putted these greens very well in the past but (Thursday) wasn't one of those days."

Just as Mickelson finished speaking with reporters outside the scoring tent, walking past not far from him was the bane of his existence - Tiger heading up to the 10th tee with his customary large gallery trailing behind.

When Tiger shot that 40 in 1997, he immediately followed that with a scorching 30 on the second nine, giving him a remarkable two-under-par for the round.

So you had better believe there's even more than the usual pressure on Mickelson in Friday's second round. He's had eight straight top-10 finishes here. He's sold everyone on the idea of Augusta National serving as his tranquilizer.

But he was nervous wreck Thursday, momentarily erasing the memories of Masters ice water replacing the bubbling anxiety that usually courses his veins in a major championship. And should he miss the cut Friday, Mickelson blows the last vestiges of compassion remaining from last year's U.S. Open implosion.

- Drew Sharp, Detroit Free Press

I could tell you how Rich Beem's 1-year-old girl won her daddy's caddie a new car.

Or about the way Beem said the bad thing about being in the Masters is it means he can't watch it on TV.

Or why he thought the 1-under-par 71 he shot was "one of the funnest rounds."

But I better give you the unfunny news first, because Beem was a rare sight in Augusta - a golfer who walked off the last green Thursday with a grin.

Day 1 of the 71st Masters was more or less a disaster. If you were expecting blades of glory, forget it.

- Mike Downey, Chicago Tribune

On a rough day all around at Augusta National, his (Tiger Woods) 1-over 73 would become a respectable start, nothing special or disastrous. Mostly, it was familiar. Woods was three strokes back after the first round in 1997, his first triumph here, and he is four strokes back now.

Deja Woods. This is how Tiger plays this tournament when he wins this tournament. He hangs off the pace early. Then Woods is a second- and third-day charger, a fourth-day closer.

- Filip Bondy, New York Daily News

(Arnold) Palmer and the Masters. How special has that been? The azaleas. The murmuring pines and the firethorn. The smells, the sounds, the tastes. The roar of wonder rolling back up the hills from the hollows below. Palmer was on a charge. You never needed a scoreboard to know it. You didn't need a robin to know it was spring.

Yes, Jones created the Masters, but Palmer made the Masters what Jones dreamed it could be. But then, Palmer made all of modern golf so there is no argument there. Now Tiger Woods is the measurement of the game and in particular of this tournament.

But it is good that Palmer will be around again and pretend to like it. Even as a golf-assisted relic.

The Masters is the most traditional of all the traditional tournaments, honoring its champions forever. The first Masters I covered, the honorary starters were Jock Hutchison and Freddie McLeod, left over from the very first one, both feeble at the time and grateful for even sympathetic cheers.

Now Palmer starts the tournament. There is something mournful and desolate about this ritual, for inevitably the feeling is not nostalgia but regret.

Reality is that golf will be chasing Palmer forever, not like Jack Nicklaus' numbers, nor Woods' dominance, but something impossible to reach, Palmer's legacy.

- Bernie Lincicome, Rocky Mountain News