By Mark Garrod, PA Sport, Augusta

Ireland's Padraig Harrington was in dreamland at the new, mean, nasty Augusta National. Sadly, though, only for 11 holes rather than 18.

Harrington, playing in the Masters for only the third time, went to the turn in a blistering 31, only one outside the record, and then holed a 12-foot putt on the 490-yard par four 11th, one of nine holes lengthened since last April.

At six under the 30-year-old Dubliner, never higher than fifth in any major championship, led by three at that point.

But he took six on the long 13th, hitting his second into Rae's Creek off a perfect drive, and bogeyed the 14th and 18th as well for a three-under 69.

While he was going backwards, Davis Love, Sergio Garcia and Angel Cabrera were all going forward and overtook him.

Love, twice an Augusta runner-up, leads on 67, but 22-year-old Garcia, having birdied the 15th, 16th and 17th, bogeyed the last to drop back alongside the big-hitting Cabrera.

Phil Mickelson and US Open champion Retief Goosen are alongside Harrington, while just one further back - in an 11-strong group - are Darren Clarke, Jesper Parnevik, Jose Maria Olazabal, Miguel Angel Jimenez and also defending champion Tiger Woods.

Harrington said: "I was a bit cautious after the 12th and that was undoubtedly my downfall.

"But I would take 69 any day here. There is adrenalin and butterflies on the first tee of the Masters, but I don't think I had any more after 11 holes.

"When you are six under you are trying to get to seven under. You can never get complacent out there, though."

He admitted, however, that he was distracted by a slow play warning on the back nine.

"We'd been waiting all day and then got a bad time. I didn't think I took that long and I was curious."

Harrington was seventh in the BellSouth Classic in Atlanta on Sunday and moved across Georgia in confident mood saying that his only target was victory.

"I don't know what money there is for finishing second (nearly £450,000 is the answer), but no amount is going to compensate you if you just miss out," he said.

"We're not going there to make a living. We're going to win and the Masters is probably the worst tournament you can finish second in."

And Harrington should know. He has been a runner-up an incredible 16 times in his career already, seven of them last year before he finally won the Volvo Masters in November.

On the day that 72-year-old Arnold Palmer shot 89 and said tomorrow will be his final Masters round, Woods led after a hat-trick of birdies from the second.

But then came bogeys at the sixth, 10th and 14th. However, he birdied the 15th and 18th to record the same score he opened with in 1997 and last year - the two times he won.

Olazabal had been the first European to throw down the gauntlet to Woods, smashing a superb second shot to five feet on the 575-yard second and holing for eagle.

However, Colin Montgomerie, Nick Faldo, Lee Westwood, Paul Lawrie and Seve Ballesteros could do no better than 75, the same as British amateur champion Michael Hoey, who did well after having five successive bogeys to stand five over after 10.

The Belfast 23-year-old, set to turn professional after this week, almost holed a five-iron approach to the last for an eagle two.

"The round was okay, but I would liked to have done a little bit better," said Hoey, 12th in the Dubai Desert Classic last month and 11th in the Scottish Open last year.

Harrington's fellow Dubliner Paul McGinley bogeyed the first two holes of what was also his Masters debut, but dug in and birdied the 15th and 17th for a level-par 72.

"I was tentative at the start, not through nerves but because I hadn't practised very well," he said. "So I'm obviously very pleased to have got that score.

"It's the toughest course I've ever played and I really battled. Three years ago I think I would have got down on myself."

Sandy Lyle, first British winner in 1988, was another to come back from a bad start and returned a 73, while Ian Woosnam, troubled by a bad back before the start and contemplating withdrawing after nine holes, produced three birdies in the last four holes for a 77.

Bernhard Langer, in the last group of the day, was three under with five to play, but finished only one over par.

Collated first-round scores (US unless stated):

67 Davis Love

68 Sergio Garcia (Spa), Angel Cabrera (Arg)

69 Retief Goosen (Rsa), Padraig Harrington (Irl), Phil Mickelson

70 Scott Verplank, Jesper Parnevik (Swe), Chris DiMarco, Ernie Els (Rsa), Jose Maria Olazabal (Spa), Tiger Woods, Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spa), Nick Price (Zim), Vijay Singh (Fij), Justin Leonard, Darren Clarke (Gbr)

71 Adam Scott (Aus), Greg Norman (Aus), Tom Watson, Brad Faxon

72 Jerry Kelly, Paul McGinley (Irl), Mike Weir (Can)

73 Frank Lickliter, Rory Sabbatini (Rsa), Jeff Sluman, Matt Kuchar, Toshi Izawa (Jpn), Robert Allenby (Aus), Sandy Lyle (Gbr), Fred Couples, Jim Furyk, Craig Stadler, David Toms, Bob Estes, Bernhard Langer (Ger)

74 Mark Brooks, Kirk Triplett, David Duval, Michael Campbell (Nzl), Charles Howell, Jose Coceres (Arg), Joe Durant, Stewart Cink, Tom Pernice, Larry Mize, Billy Mayfair, Chez Reavie, Lee Janzen, Thomas Bjorn (Den), John Daly

75 Paul Lawrie (Gbr), Fuzzy Zoeller, Nick Faldo (Gbr), Michael Hoey (Gbr), Colin Montgomerie (Gbr), Scott McCarron, Steve Lowery, Seve Ballesteros (Spa), Steve Stricker, Lee Westwood (Gbr), Billy Andrade, Rocco Mediate, Paul Azinger, Shigeki Maruyama (Jpn)

76 Tom Lehman, Tim Jackson, Scott Hoch, Kenny Perry, Niclas Fasth (Swe)

77 Ian Woosnam (Gbr), Robert Hamilton, Tom Kite

78 Kevin Sutherland, Mark O'Meara, Shingo Katayama (Jpn)

79 Tommy Aaron, Raymond Floyd, Mark Calcavecchia, Bubba Dickerson

80 Gary Player (Rsa), Toru Taniguchi (Jpn), Stuart Appleby (Aus)

81 Craig Perks (Nzl), Ben Crenshaw

82 Charles Coody

89 Arnold Palmer

Withdrew: Hal Sutton