If nothing else, years of heartache at Augusta National Golf Club have taught Greg Norman to be patient.
As badly as he wants to win the Masters, as pure as his swing felt when he warmed up on the practice range before the first round Thursday, nothing could alter his plan of attack - which really wasn't much of an attack at all.Norman simply waited for Augusta National to come to him, and then he refused to let it go.
His 24-foot birdie putt that bounced over a spike mark before falling dead center into the cup on No. 18 was his ninth birdie in the last 12 holes, giving him a 9-under-par 63.
That's the lowest first-round score in 60 years of the Masters. It tied the course record first set by Nick Price in 1986 and, more importantly, gave Norman a 2-stroke lead over Phil Mickelson.
"When you get into the type of roll that I got into, let it happen," he said. "Let the reins of the horse go and let him run as fast as he wants to run. I wanted to get as much under par as I could. I didn't care if I got the lead or not. I wanted the situation."
He had to wait for it, which was a stiffer test than some of the pin placements on fast, firm, greens that made the course play harder than Norman's score would indicate.
He could have pressed when he missed birdie putts of 10 feet or less on three of the first six holes. He could have panicked when Mickelson tapped in a 2-foot birdie putt on the 18th hole for his 65.
"I didn't attack today," Norman said. "If you lose your patience, get a little too aggressive with your putter and you have those 3- or 4-footers coming back and miss one, you get impatient and let it get away. All I could do was be patient."
It paid off on a day that figured to benefit the early starters, like Bob Tway and Scott Hoch, who shot a 67 before the warm Augusta air began to dry out the greens even more. Lee Janzen, another early starter, was at 68.
Nick Faldo was in a fivesome at 69, while Jack Nicklaus - 10 years after his sixth and most amazing Masters title - Raymond Floyd and Paul Azinger were in a group at 2-under 70.
John Daly took a double-bogey on the 18th hole to shoot 71. Defending champion Ben Crenshaw was at 77, six shots worse than 59-year-old Tommy Aaron but still better than Fred Couples, who ballooned to a 78.
That got Couples a surprisingly early tee time - the Masters is the only major that puts out new pairings every day - when play began today in ideal, dry weather, with warm temperatures in the offing.
Four straight days of those conditions have put the table-top greens at their swiftest, making 40-foot putts up the slope often more desirable than an 10-footer from above the hole.
That's one of the lessons Mickelson learned in his short history at Augusta, and it worked to his favor on Thursday.
"When I first came here, I felt like I should be firing at every pin," he said. "And I feel like now I might fire at a pin in a certain spot, but firing at a pin means maybe 8 feet left of it so I have an uphill putt."
But patience can be as imperative as knowing the subtle breaks of the greens, and no one proved that more than Norman. While he knows a tournament can be lost but not won on the first day, he realizes the same holds true for the front nine.
"We're out there churning our guts out knowing that if you don't get off to a good start you're going to be in a for a long day," Norman said. "The way I played the first five holes set up the rest of the day. I played them good. I played them strong.
" But when I got through the sixth hole, I just said to keep swinging the way you're swinging and take advantage of the good shots that you can hit," he said. "And things happened for me on the back nine."
Even his bad shots turned into brilliance. His hooked tee shot on No. 14 clipped a tall pine and dropped straight down, leaving him 220 yards to the hole. He hit a 4-iron over a mound and up the ridge of the green, the ball stopping 3 feet from the hole.
He birdied both the par 5s with two putts, one from 40 feet on No. 13, the other an 18-footer that turned away from the cup on the last roll. Norman winced, straightened and gently rubbed his stomach, looking like a man who had not had enough to eat.
Then he proceeded to birdie two of the last three holes for his 63, only the 18th such score in a major championship.
It was the perfect way to begin his quest for the championship he wants more than any other.
"You take that with you back to the house," Norman said. "You just try to keep the momentum going that you've got within yourself. You don't let it get away from you and get too excited about it."
Norman showed Thursday the patience to do that.
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ADDITIONAL INFORMATION
1st round leaders
Greg Norman 33-30-63 -9
Phil Mickelson 35-30-65 -7
Scott Hoch 35-32-67 -5
Bob Tway 36-31-67 -5
Lee Janzen 35-33-68 -4
David Gilford 34-35-69 -3
Brad Faxon 34-35-69 -3
Nick Faldo 34-35-69 -3
Scott Simpson 35-34-69 -3
Vijay Singh 34-35-69 -3