It wasn't exactly a waffle when Gary Player said he might have to reconsider retiring from the Masters Tournament after finishing his opening round Thursday.

Gary Player acknowledges the gallery after making a par on No. 7 on Thursday. Player shot a 6-over 78, making it all but certain that today will be his last competitive Masters round. (Rainier Ehrhardt/Staff)

Call it more like a pancake.

"I think I might have retired too soon," Player said with a laugh after shooting 6-over par 78, which he equates to shooting 2-under, because he considers par for him at the Masters to be 80. "It was a thrill for me to break 80 around here because it's so tough for me."

The fire to take on Augusta National Golf Club still burns hot in the flat belly of the 73-year-old South African, who is calling it quits after 52 years playing the Masters, a tournament record. He knows some of the par-4s are now out of realistic birdie range for him -- he laid up on Nos. 10, 11 and 18 on Thursday -- and that galls him.

"It just killed me on the last hole to lay up there," he said. "I'm dying to take a three-wood and try to put it up, but then you get a double bogey if you put it in the front bunker. There are a lot of par-4s that are really par-5s for me."

Despite that, he showed flashes of why he is a three-time Masters champion.

He birdied the par-5 second, and was at 1-over par heading to the back nine, only one stroke behind Stephen Ames and one ahead of his other playing partner, Luke Donald. His highlight came on the par-4 11th. He flared his approach short right of the green, then hit a daunting pitch shot over a mound that rolled into the fringe about 30 feet from the hole.

"Come on, Gary. Show them how to do it," an elderly woman yelled from the crowd.

He did, curling in a left-to-right breaker to save par, celebrating it with his best Woodsian double-arm pump and a leg kick that would make the Rockettes proud.

Donald said Player gave him and Ames a run for their money during the round.

"I had to make a couple of birdies and an eagle just to stay ahead of him today," the Englishman said after the round.

Player was greeted with standing ovations throughout his round, and many of those who clapped heartily for this golfing globe-trotter have been fans for years.

"I first followed him when he came to Memphis to play when I was 18," said Jim Lindsey, 64, of Fayetteville, Ark., after cheering Player on as he left the ninth green. "He's a great gentleman, and I think he is the best."

Player is the last of the Big Three to call it quits at the Masters. Arnold Palmer bowed out in 2004; Jack Nicklaus, a year later. Longtime patrons know an era is ending.

"I've been coming here since '76 and watched all those guys and now they're going," said Marlene Burroughs, 66, of Maryland. "The young breed here is great but it's kind of sad not to have those guys who've walked here forever."

Player said he felt the love from patrons all day Thursday and expects today, which likely will be his last competitive round at the Masters, to be very emotional.

"I know what it's going to be like tomorrow when you walk up here, your last tournament round on this course," he said. "But everything shall pass. I go out very happy, I go out very happy. Sad, obviously, at that moment but overall very happy to have won this three times ... been second on three occasions.

"And to have been able to have had 52 years of this, something that nobody's ever had. How blessed can you be? How blessed can you be?"

Reach Mike Wynn at (706) 823-3218 or mike.wynn@augustachronicle.com.

1st Round
Hole	1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	Out	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17	18	In	T
Par	4	5	4	3	4	3	4	5	4	36	4	4	3	5	4	5	3	4	4	36	72
Rnd	5	4	4	4	4	3	4	5	4	37	6	4	3	5	5	5	4	4	5	41	78
Tot.	1	0	0	1	1	1	1	1	1	1	3	3	3	3	4	4	5	5	6	6	6