By Mark Garrod, PA Sport Golf Correspondent, Augusta

Padraig Harrington resumed the Masters in joint fourth place at Augusta.

But which Padraig Harrington was it going to be? The inspired one who raced to six under par and a three-stroke lead after 11 holes of his first round on Thursday, or the cautious one who bogeyed three of the last six holes?

On the first tee, butterflies in his stomach and adrenaline pumping his system already, the 30-year-old Dubliner would happily have taken a 69. The manner of it, though, was such that to trail Davis Love at the end of the day had to be somewhat disappointing.

Love, twice a runner-up in the event but without a single top-15 finish this season, leads by one from Sergio Garcia and Angel Cabrera and by two from Harrington, US Open champion Retief Goosen and world number two Phil Mickelson.

Defending champion Tiger Woods was in the 11-strong group just one further back, as were Darren Clarke, Jose Maria Olazabal, Jesper Parnevik and Miguel Angel Jimenez.

"I don't think I had any more adrenaline after 12 holes than I had at the start," said Harrington when asked about the excitement of finding himself the clear pacesetter in the Masters.

"I think I obviously became a little bit more cautious about what I was doing and undoubtedly that was my downfall.

"I'll take 69 every day, though. There's never a day that you tee it up here that you wouldn't."

Harrington will be keen not to run into any more slow play problems on Friday. He admits he became distracted after being given a warning on the 16th.

"It was just curious. It didn't seem like it took 51 seconds for me to hit, so the next time I was worried about going over that." Another breach and he would have been given a penalty shot.

Clarke, runner-up in the Houston Open two weeks ago, birdied the 465-yard last to keep his confidence high, but Garcia bogeyed it just like Harrington.

Nevertheless, the 22-year-old was delighted by his opening effort - and believes it was helped by Real Madrid's victory over Bayern Munich on Wednesday night.

"For sure I was happier when I got to the course than if we had lost," he said. "I called a couple of the players and I'm happy for them.

"This is my best-ever round here and it's great to be on such a strong leaderboard. That's the way it should be - it shows the good players are playing well and that can only make it more exciting for the weekend."

While Love was the only player to keep a bogey off his card, Garcia was the only one to birdie all four par fives.

Woods, trying to hang on to the one major crown he has left, birdied two of the last four holes to repeat the opening 70 he had in 1997 and last season - his two winning years, of course.

"I just wanted to shoot even par or better," he said. "It's not one of those courses where you can just turn it on and make a few birdies and no big deal.

"I was three under through five, but I made a couple of mistakes and had to hang in there and be very patient."

The halfway cut looks as if it is going to fall at three or four over par - only the top 44 and ties, or anybody within 10 shots of the lead, go through - and that leaves many more of the Europeans with little margin for error.

Lee Westwood, Colin Montgomerie, Nick Faldo, Seve Ballesteros, Paul Lawrie and British amateur champion Michael Hoey, from Belfast, all set off again on three over.

Sandy Lyle is two better than that and Paul McGinley joint 22nd on level par - that after starting his Masters debut with two bogeys - but Ian Woosnam's three late birdies still only brought him a five-over 77.

The Welshman, winner in 1991, has been troubled by a bad back this week and admits he nearly quit after an outward 41, but he probably now requires a 70 or 71 to survive.

Hoey, 23, is only a shot behind American Chez Reavie in the battle to be top amateur, but they have to make the cut to keep their hopes of winning the silver trophy alive.

Just three years ago Garcia became the first European amateur ever to lift that, so it would be some feat from Hoey, who was already shown his talent by finishing 11th in the Scottish Open last year and 12th in the Dubai Desert Classic last month - and, of course, by helping Britain and Ireland retain the Walker Cup in Georgia last August.

Hoey almost holed his second shot to the 18th yesterday. More of the same will do him nicely in what is almost certainly his farewell amateur appearance.