AUGUSTA, Ga. — The first round of the Masters should be about the guys who come out of nowhere, the rookies who play like veterans, the sentimental favorites.

So, before getting to Vijay Singh, Phil Mickelson and defending champion Tiger Woods — not to mention Augusta National on steroids — let's give props to Rocco Mediate, Arron Oberholser and Ben Crenshaw.

Quite an unlikely trio on Thursday's leaderboard.

Mediate has been in a deep slump the past two years, but he qualified for the Masters with a surprisingly high finish in the U.S. Open last summer. Taking advantage of his chance, he was only one stroke behind Vijay Singh, who grabbed the top spot with a 5-under 67.

"I've been hurt," said Mediate, whose career took a downturn because of back problems. "When your body goes away, you can't do anything with the golf club. Even if you can do partial things, you've got to come play these guys. That's the killer."

Oberholser came into his first Masters with absolutely no expectations of winning. He still doesn't — even after starting with a 69.

"No one expects me to win this championship," he acknowledged. "I don't expect myself to win this championship."

Then there's the biggest stunner. Crenshaw had not broken par at Augusta since a closing 68 at the 1995 Masters clinched his second green jacket. Heck, the 54-year-old Texan hasn't even made the cut in nine years.

Then he goes out and shoots 71 with a brilliant short game, putting himself in position to make it to the weekend. On the 20th anniversary of Jack Nicklaus' sixth Masters victory, could Crenshaw become the oldest winner in Masters history?

"Doubtful," he replied. "I've had my time here."

Crenshaw has been around this place long enough to know that 18 glorious holes aren't nearly enough to get fitted for a green jacket.

In all likelihood, this year's surprising threesome will give way to those more familiar names by the time the weekend rolls around.

Start with Singh, who won this tournament in 2000, has three major titles on his resume and carved up the supersized course with a bogey-free round. He's feeling extremely confident with a putter in his hands — always a good state of mind on these greens, which were taking on a yellow sheen and figure to dry out even more if the wind, as expected, kicks up Friday.

"I feel very comfortable putting here," Singh said. "The putter has been working pretty good for me."

Mickelson birdied two of the last four holes to join a group at 70 that included another likely contender, two-time U.S. Open champion Retief Goosen.

"I played far from perfect, but I hit a lot of good shots," Lefty said. "Ended up at 2 under, which I gladly would have taken at the start of the day."

Woods, an overwhelming favorite for his fifth green jacket, had an interesting round that evened out in the end. He holed out an 8-iron from 163 yards for eagle at No. 14, but gave it right back at the next hole when he plopped one in the water on the way to a double-bogey 7.

He finished at 72, which is about right for Woods. He had never broken 70 in the first round of the Masters and started last year with a 74, which didn't stop him from winning his fourth Augusta title.

"I thought I played real well, actually," Woods said. "I'm better than I was last year, so I'm in good shape."

The much-ballyhooed course changes didn't seem to have much effect, even though the 7,445-yard layout is the second-longest in major championship history after Whistling Straits.

Only three players broke 70, and 15 others were under par. But the scoring average for the first round — 74.94 — was a fraction of a stroke lower than the previous two years.

"I don't think anybody will be unhappy with the way the course played today," said Goosen, who also was joined at 70 by fellow South African Tim Clark and Australia's Geoff Ogilvy.