You can't compare eras in sports.

Babe Ruth would be less of the truth against a well-rested pitching staff.

Bob Cousy would be no real doozy in basketball's shot-clock era.

Johnny U would be Johnny Pew had he faced two-deep defenses.

The "bigger, stronger, faster" concept might not apply to golf the way it does to other sports, but Thursday's opening round of the Masters Tournament proved you can't compare eras in golf, either.

Yesterday's best can outplay today's stars, at least when the golf course is set up in a way where power doesn't determine the outcome.

Check out the list of players under par:

- Larry Mize, age 50, two shots off the lead.

- Kenny Perry, age 48, three strokes back.

- Greg Norman and Bernhard Langer -- fiftysomethings, and under par.

"It just shows we can still play golf," said Langer, who shot 2-under-par 70. "There are different times when the 50-some-year-olds can still play. There's a lot of experience and a lot left in these old bodies."

The graybeards crowded the red leaderboards Thursday for one reason: technology.

Specifically, technology's impact on player development.

Young pros need not be as precise as their predecessors.

They need not have the ability to hit every shot with every club in their bag.

They need not think their way around the course.

Take away their length advantage and they are at a disadvantage.

It's no coincidence the game today is dominated by a player -- Tiger Woods -- who possesses a combination of raw power and polished shot-making skills. Or that the past two Masters champions can be considered throwbacks.

Norman was arguably the best player of the period bridging Tom Watson's heyday and Woods's emergence. The 54-year-old Norman estimates age has taken 40 yards off his drives, yet he nearly won the British Open last summer and looks like a legitimate contender for this weekend.

"If I had the technology I have today back in the 1980s, I would be driving the ball 340, 350 yards, no question about it," Norman said.

Here's another fact: Give today's players rubber golf balls, wooden club heads (or at least aluminum instead of titanium) and put them on shorter golf courses, and they would learn the game's finer points, too.

The green jackets will give Augusta National back to the young and the restless this weekend.

They'll add a few wrinkles -- move a couple of tees back, tuck a few more pins, wet-vac some greens -- and drive the wrinkled right off the leaderboard.

That's understandable.

The first-round leader, Chad Campbell, flirted with a course record Thursday. He was further under par though 16 holes Thursday than the winner managed through 72 holes last April.

Sunday's winner will have to be a brilliant shot maker and a sure putter, but he will also need to be long. That's why Woods, Angel Cabrera and Stewart Cink -- all under par, all fitting that description -- might as well be atop the leaderboard this morning.

Reach Adam Van Brimmer at adam.vanbrimmer@savannahnow.com.