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The Masters doesn't usually go like this. At a tournament that traditionally favours players with extensive experience at the Augusta National Golf Club, a pair of 20-somethings were the first-round leaders yesterday.

Not that anybody should have been overly surprised to see Justin Rose, 27, and Trevor Immelman, 28, atop the leaderboard. Rose and Immelman are among the world's top 30 golfers and both are worthy nominees for the title of best golfer to have never won a major tournament.

Rose, especially, has shown he's big-game material. The world No. 9 finished no worse than 12th place in the four majors last year, including a tie for fifth spot at the Masters.

Rose, of Britain, and Immelman, of South Africa, both led the field of 94 with four-under-par 68 on a course that played extremely tough. Just 18 players broke par.

"The extra atmosphere and adrenalin and nerves, that sort of brought out the best in me," Rose said.

The Briton said he didn't get down on himself despite making two bogeys on the first four holes. He later replied with six birdies in an eight-hole stretch.

"When you open like that in the first round of a tournament, you just have to remind yourself how far there is to go," he said.

Lee Westwood, Brian Bateman and Brandt Snedeker shared third place at three under.

Heavy fog in the morning bumped the start time by an hour and led to a late finish. The final group of Westwood, Aaron Baddeley and Camilo Villegas made their putts in darkness, with the moon shining over Augusta National.

Stephen Ames of Calgary was the low Canadian after shooting a tidy round of two-under 70. He didn't have any bogeys — or any expectations that he might be among the top 10 when he began his round.

"No expectations," he said. "Just go out and play golf. Whatever it gives me, it gives me. That's the best way for me to play golf. See a shot and hit it the way I want to see it."

Mike Weir, a native of Bright's Grove, Ont., shot a scrappy round of one-over 73. "Scores aren't low and it's early in the week," he said "I didn't do anything to hurt my chances."

After the fog lifted, the day turned warm and sunny, which would usually make for ideal scoring conditions. But tough pin placements and the slick, sloping greens kept anyone from going really low.

"You don't see 65s out here any more," said Weir, the 2003 Masters champion. "It's just too hard. Shooting 65 out here would be just like shooting 60 [on any other course]. It's that hard."

The high scoring made for a relatively quiet day on the course. Fans had little to get pumped up about, with the exception of Tiger Woods's chip-in eagle at the 15th hole and Ian Poulter's hole-in-one on the 16th.

"Pretty exciting moment," Poulter said of his ace. "Any hole-in-one is a nice one. But to do it on 16 with all those spectators on the left-hand side, it's a great amphitheatre to have a hole-in-one. Great timing."

Tournament organizers made a few minor changes to Augusta National this year, but the biggest might have been removing trees along the left side of the 16th hole to accommodate more seating. The extra fans created extra volume.

Woods, the heavy favourite at the 72nd Masters, shot even-par 72. He made 12 consecutive pars to start his round, then bogeyed the 13th and 14th holes before chipping in for an eagle from behind on the par-5 15th.

"The way the golf course plays now, you don't really shoot low rounds here any more," Woods said. "You've just got to plod along. It's playing more of a U.S. Open than it is a Masters. I mean, there's really only one roar I heard all day and that was Poultie's eagle. But other than that, it was really quiet."

On a day when relative youngsters led the way, old-timers had their moments, too.

Sandy Lyle, 50, the 1988 Masters champion, stayed near the top of board for most of the day, peaking at three under before bogeying three of the final four holes to end up at even par.

And Gary Player, 72, made his 51st start, a Masters record. He shot 83.

Selected Leaderboard

T1 Justin Rose (68) The Briton made birdies in batches — four in a row beginning on the sixth hole, then back-to-back birdies on the 12th and 13th.

T1 Trevor Immelman (68) The South African's slow start to the season — a tie for 17th place has been his best result — was forgotten yesterday after his bogey-free round.

T6 Stephen Ames (70) The Calgarian didn't have any bogeys on his scorecard, either. His birdies came on the second and seventh holes, on putts of eight and 2½ feet, respectively.

T34 Mike Weir (73) The 2003 Masters champion from Bright's Grove, Ont., made a double bogey at the 12th hole, his first at Amen Corner's par-3 during his nine Masters appearances. But he was otherwise solid.