Nowhere else on this planet is a golf course such a fickle temptress as it is at Augusta National. It conveys gifts on some, beguiles others, and simply outrages other unfortunates. So, on a day when the weather gods teased and tormented those attempting to secure the 68th US Masters, a fresh-faced Englishman, Justin Rose, secured the first round lead with none of the adventures that afflicted other players.

And Rose - suitably enthralled by the magic of the place, and taking advantage of his early start - had long finished before a weather front containing thunder and lightning and heavy rain closed in on the area to rescue from further mischief others who had set out with greater expectations.

For some, there was simply no place to hide. Among those to struggle was Tiger Woods. More and more it looks as if he is unsure of his swing and yesterday, while favours were bestowed on a select few, including Chris DiMarco who had a hole-in-one on the sixth on the way to a 69, Woods laboured to a front nine of four-over-par 40. It was then that the storm closed in, and allowed him some respite.

Which was more than the unfortunate Shigeki Maruyama managed, as he had just finished his first round with an 82 that included a quintuple bogey eight on the 12th and a triple bogey seven on the 17th. "I felt sorry just watching," remarked Phil Mickelson, one of his playing partners.

At least Mickelson had started the day with a smile, caused by the sight of Darren Clarke in fashionable red-and-white trousers that would have been more in place on a fashion catwalk. "I roughed him up a bit when I saw what he was wearing," said Mickleson, who shot 72.

Clarke - and his trousers - was subjected to good-nature banter from the galleries for much of his round. "I had a few comments . . . and they mostly liked them!" he insisted. If Clarke's fashion sense even managed to upstage Ian Poulter (some achievement at the best of times), his golf was far removed from any extravagance.

Instead, Clarke, who was the first-round leader a year ago, was the essence of sensibility as he shot a first round of two-under-par 70. "I'm more pleased with the way I hit the ball, rather than my score," claimed Clarke afterwards. "I played for me a very sensible, conservative round of golf which, as you know, is not always one of my strong points."

Around Augusta National, the conservative approach rather than the aggressive approach is a good game plan. And even if Clarke did not always make the most of the chances that came his way, missing some reasonable birdie chances with what he termed a "cold" putter, the Dungannon man remarked that he had got "a pretty fair score, I made very few mistakes".

But the putter did cause some irritation. He three-putted the eighth hole for par when a birdie seemed inevitable, and he three-putted the 17th for a bogey which he at least rescued on the last when hitting a six-iron approach to eight feet for a closing birdie.

Elsewhere, there was evidence of a calmer demeanour. On the 11th, he pulled his tee-shot - "one of the very few poor shots I hit all day," he said - behind trees in to pine needles, attempted to hook an approach to the green but finished up in the water. Despite a penalty drop, he got up and down for a bogey when a higher score looked on. "Overall, I'm very pleased," insisted Clarke, in the knowledge that he is very much in the hunt on a course where he knows he can score well.

For Padraig Harrington, though, there was less to be upbeat about. Having come into Augusta on the back of a runner-up finish in the Players Championship and a fourth position in the BellSouth, the Dubliner conceded yesterday's first round was "a bit of a struggle," after shooting an opening two-over-par 74.

Early on, Harrington hit some really nice approach shots to greens, only for the ball to catch the wrong tier. "On another course, they would have been close," he insisted. "But I caught the wrong tier on the first, the fifth and the sixth and, after that, I played more conservatively. That's the nature of Augusta, it is always asking questions of your club selection. It's tough that way."

Harrington was "hanging in" and remained at level par, until dropping two shots over the closing five holes. On the 14th, he misclubbed and overshot the green and on the 17th he was in trouble off the tee. "The important thing about the first round is not to play your way out of the tournament . . . I have ground to make up. But, as Justin has shown, you can shoot 67."

While Rose assumed the clubhouse lead, it was a day that brought much solace to the European invasion force with Colin Montgomerie - despite finishing with a bogey - and Bernard Langer, Europe's Ryder Cup captain, both carding 71s. And Phillip Price, after a lacklustre start to the season, was two under par for 14 holes before returning to the clubhouse when the thunderstorm arrived.

The course which had played hard and fast in practice had some of its "fieryness," as Clarke put it, taken away by the rain which at first caressed it only for it to turn into a genuine thunderstorm for the later starters.

If DiMarco was the beneficiary of most of the course's favours, hitting a five-iron hole-in-one on the sixth, the first at that hole since Charles Coody (1972), others were stung. And Woods, of those atop the world rankings, wasn't alone in his misery. Vijay Singh was floating along very nicely until he put his second shot on the par five 15th into the water. From being two under, a triple bogey eight transformed his score to one over and further bogeys at the 17th and 18th only served to compound his misery.