Woods - closed with two bogeys.

Justin Rose made a dream return to the Masters on Thursday - and David Howell, after a miserable start to the year, is only one behind him going into the second round.

Rose holed a bunker shot, took just 20 putts and handed in the only bogey-free scorecard of the opening 18 holes.

"It's exciting to go bogey-free on any course on any day, but at Augusta when the scoring is pretty high (the average was over 76) makes me very happy, that's for sure," he said after his three-under-par 69.

It needed a 15-foot birdie at the 17th for debutant Brett Wetterich to join him, while Howell, without a top-20 finish all season, made the only eagle of the day on the 530-yard 15th to be joint third with Wetterich's Ryder Cup team-mate David Toms.

Tiger Woods, chasing his third successive major and 13th in all, moved just two back with birdies at the 13th and 15th, but he had swing problems all day and they cost him two closing bogeys for "only" a 73.

Earlier, defending champion Phil Mickelson matched his worst-ever round on the course - he even needed two late birdies for a 76 - and Ernie Els slumped to a 78, while Europeans Paul Casey (79), Padraig Harrington (77), Lee Westwood (79), Darren Clarke (83) and Seve Ballesteros (86) have never shot higher in the event.

On his last appearance in 2004 Rose was the halfway pace-setter, but crashed to a third-round 81 and then failed to qualify the next two years. He has been desperate to get back.

Not confirmed in the field until 10 days before the start and out of action on the US Tour for five weeks because of a disc problem, the 26-year-old was inspired by Augusta National yet again.

"I was a little worried a few weeks ago whether I'd be okay to play here, but I've worked on my fitness and rehab.

"I'm very cautious and making sure I am fully warmed up before I get to the (practice) range."

Rose, whose best performance in a major remains his fourth place as a 17-year-old amateur at the 1998 Open, holed out from sand on the fifth and picked up further shots on the fifth and 14th before getting up and down from off the green four times in a row from the 15th - the last of them from another bunker.

He added: "My touch was amazing. It's something I've worked hard on, but because of my injury I wasn't sure about the sharpness you sometimes need."

On what happened over the weekend three years ago he added: "I learned that one or two days [of leading] is so far from winning the tournament. You have to stay in the moment.

"I also learned this course demands respect. I started chasing, but the course is so subtle."

Big-hitting Wetterich, who emerged from the US Tour qualifying school at the end of 2005 to make last year's Ryder Cup team, was runner-up to Woods in the CA world championship only two weeks ago.

"That was a big thing for me, playing with Tiger on the Sunday, and I thought I did pretty well," he said. "Teeing off today I felt the nerves a little bit, but I settled down and got over the hump."

Howell almost sank his three-iron at the 15th and that certainly made up for a double bogey on the fourth. He also had birdies at the seventh, eighth and 10th.

"I'm delighted - I didn't come in with an awful lot of confidence and was a little nervy wondering how the day was going to go," said the Swindon golfer, who had a taste of the lead himself two years ago before running into Woods at the peak of his powers.

"I was disappointed with the way I handled that, but hopefully I can use the experience."

Woods said: "I just to need to organise a couple of things. I battled hard, but then went from right there to all of a sudden over par and I'm not real happy about that."

Mickelson began as he did a year ago, with a bogey five after hitting his second into the guarding bunker, but although he rallied with a birdie at the third it flattered to deceive.

The left-hander, winner two of the last three years but with indifferent form coming in, turned in 40 and stood six over when he dropped further strokes at the 12th and 14th - either side of three-putting the long 13th for par.

The birdies on 15 and 16 - a 30-footer there - repaired some of the damage and he made a great save from way over the green at the next, but it will take a massive turnaround in his fortunes just to climb into contention.

Europe's top-ranked player Henrik Stenson was pleased with his level-par 72 even though he turned two under and Luke Donald was happy with how he struck the ball in his 73, but the rest of the contingent hoping to end the major drought since Paul Lawrie's 1999 Open win have a lot of catching up to do already.

Harrington put a wedge in the lake for a triple-bogey eight on the 15th and Westwood had the same score at the 13th.

In on 75 were Ian Poulter and first-timers Kenneth Ferrie and Bradley Dredge, while Colin Montgomerie did not want to talk about a 76 that was then matched by his fellow Scot Richie Ramsay, who was playing with Mickelson.

Casey was bitterly disappointed with his start alongside Woods, dropping four shots in the first six, and Sandy Lyle also laboured to a 79, but at least they played. Ian Woosnam pulled out before the start with back trouble.

Collated first-round scores (USA unless stated, par 72) (x) denotes amateurs:

69 Justin Rose (Gbr), Brett Wetterich

70 David Howell (Gbr), David Toms

71 Tim Clark (Rsa), Vaughn Taylor, Zach Johnson, Rich Beem, JJ Henry

72 Davis Love, Henrik Stenson (Swe), Bart Bryant, Tim Herron, Jeev Milkha Singh (Ind)

73 Scott Verplank, Rory Sabbatini (Rsa), Luke Donald (Gbr), Tiger Woods, Vijay Singh (Fij)

74 Arron Oberholser, Adam Scott (Aus), Jose Maria Olazabal (Spa), Todd Hamilton, Craig Stadler, Lucas Glover, Fuzzy Zoeller, Trevor Immelman (Rsa)

75 Ian Poulter (Gbr), Dean Wilson, Bradley Dredge (Gbr), Chris DiMarco, Kenneth Ferrie (Gbr), Tom Watson, Stuart Appleby (Aus), Mike Weir (Can), KJ Choi (Kor), Geoff Ogilvy (Aus), Charles Howell, Jim Furyk, Yang Yong-eun (Kor), Tom Pernice, Jerry Kelly

76 Billy Mayfair, Nick O'Hern (Aus), Ben Crenshaw, Colin Montgomerie (Gbr), Fred Couples, Sergio Garcia (Spa), Phil Mickelson, (x) Richie Ramsay (Gbr), Ben Curtis, Carl Pettersson (Swe), Jeff Sluman, Stephen Ames (Can), Retief Goosen (Rsa), Michael Campbell (Nzl), Mark Calcavecchia, Brett Quigley

77 (x) John Kelly, Steve Stricker, Niclas Fasth (Swe), Mark O'Meara, Chad Campbell, Angel Cabrera (Arg), Stewart Cink, Robert Karlsson (Swe), Rod Pampling (Aus), Raymond Floyd, John Rollins, Thomas Bjorn (Den), Padraig Harrington (Irl)

78 Bernhard Langer (Ger), Ernie Els (Rsa), Johan Edfors (Swe)

79 Troy Matteson, Sandy Lyle (Gbr), Shingo Katayama (Jpn), Paul Goydos, Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spa), Robert Allenby (Aus), Lee Westwood (Gbr), Ben Crane, Paul Casey (Gbr), Aaron Baddeley (Aus)

80 Joe Durant, Camilo Villegas (Col)

82 Fred Funk, Shaun Micheel

83 Larry Mize, Gary Player (Rsa), (x) Julien Guerrier (Fra), Darren Clarke (Gbr)

84 (x) Dave Womack

85 Hideto Tanihara (Jpn)

86 Seve Ballesteros (Spa)

87 (x) Casey Watabu

Withdrew: Ian Woosnam (Gbr)