Masters 2011 Leaderboard: Tiger Woods, Phil Mickelson Middle of the Road on Day 1

If you didn't watch the first round of the Masters all the way to the end, you missed some exciting shots. Long-hitting Alvaro Quiros from Spain was grouped with Venezuelan Jhonnathan Vegas and Gary Woodland.

It was like a long-drive contest had suddenly started up on the back nine at Augusta National. Woodland hit his drive 343 yards on the 15th hole. The other two were not far behind.

Hours earlier, young phenom Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland finished his round early atop the leaderboard at -7, which in some years has been the finishing score at the Masters. By the end of Quiros' round, he was tied with McIlroy, much to his surprise.

"It's something difficult to believe," Quiras said about the round. Before today his best score in the event was 75. "The best part of the bag was the putter."

He said he did not watch the leaderboard because he didn't expect to do well.

"I'm very happy today. Every single situation has to be measured. I mean, the risk, the reward; and today, I was very happy making pars. This is why probably shoot 65."

McIlroy was equally pleased since he had missed the cut in 2010.

"It takes years and years of figuring out and they make tiny little adjustments here and there," he said. "l feel a lot more comfortable on the golf course this year than I did the previous couple of years, which is great. And it showed in the way I played today. I played some really good golf out there."

Missing from the top 10 were Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson.

Woods posted a 71, with three birdies and two bogeys. His birdies were at the fairly impossible par-three sixth, where he made a monster putt, at the par-five 13th where he cozied up a long eagle putt and tapped in for birdie and at the par four 14th, where he rolled in what looked to be a 35-40 footer.

His bogeys were at the 10th and 11th. He was in bunkers on both of the par fives on the front nine which prevented him from making birdies there.  He is T24. It is an unusual spot for him at a major.

"I hit beautiful putts all day. I hit a couple bad ones, but overall felt really good over the putts. Realistically the round probably should have been 68, 69," Woods said after his round.

Mickelson was one shot better at 70, and how he scored as well hitting only four fairways is testament to his short game. Mickelson was in the pine straw left on the ninth and in the trees right on the 10th. He made two miracle shots there. The rest of the round, he chipped like a crazy man.

There was only one birdie on the front nine, and that came at the uphill par three eighth. His second shot bounded up short of the green, wedged to about three feet and made the putt.

Birdies ad the 14th and 15th put him three under, but he bogeyed the last hole to fall back a shot. He is T14.

"Today my swing got just a little long and loose. I didn't leave myself in good positions often enough," Mickelson said. He went to the range to work out the kinks for Friday. "It's okay, just okay. I didn't shoot myself out of it but I didn't make up ground on the field the way I wanted to, so I've got to go do it tomorrow."

He cited his scrambling but admitted he let birdie chances slip away.

"I'm going to have to capitalize on those opportunities tomorrow if I'm going to go low," he added.

Are Woods and Mickelson out of it after day one? It depends.

If McIlroy and Quiros continue to go lower, and if the rest of the leaderboard does the same, Woods and Mickelson could be in for some heavy lifting come the weekend. But Round 1 does not a tournament make, although it made for an exciting day.

McIlroy's best finish in a major to date is a third at the 2010 PGA Championship. At the 2010 British Open, he took the first round lead firing a course record tying and major championship record tying 63 at The Old Course at St. Andrews. Quiros best finish in a major was 11th at the 2010 British Open.

They are both great talents, but they are untested on the back nine on Sunday, never mind the back nine on Friday or Saturday.

Behind them on the leaderboard are former PGA Champion, Y.E. Yang at -5 and former Masters Champion Trevor Immelman and former US. Open Champion Geoff Ovilgy, both at -3. Yang beat Woods head to head at Hazeltine and is the only golfer to beat him when Woods has lead after the final round of a major championship.

That means Y.E. Yang's score is the one that is the real lead.

Former US Amateur Champ, Ricky Barnes (-4), and last year's leading money winner on the PGA Tour, Matt Kuchar (-4), are also within in striking distance.

The Long Bombers

The Gary Woodland who used to be on the Nike Tour was +3 through the 12th hole. Then the other Gary Woodland, the one who won Transitions, showed up, and he went eagle, par and birdied the last four holes to finish -6. A six-shot swing. It was a spellbinding finish to the round.

Jhonnathan Vegas was +2 at the turn, birdied the difficult 10th, doubled the 12th, had three birdies in a row to get to -1. He bogeyed the last to finish at even par.

Quote of the day, from Tiger Woods: "I would rather be where Rory's at. But, hey, it's a long way to go. We have a long grind ahead of us. The temperature's supposed to warm up and I'm sure they will start making the pins a little more difficult as the week goes on."