A golf tournament can't be won on the first day of play, but it can be lost.
Masters Tournament favorites David Duval and Tiger Woods almost learned that lesson the hard way during Thursday's opening round.
Duval surged into a tie for the lead before making three straight bogeys on the back nine. And Woods made six birdies in his round of 72, but suffered a triple-bogey 8 on the par-5 eighth hole.
``A round of golf doesn't involve just nine holes,'' Duval said. ``It involves both sides.''
Duval, ranked No. 1 in the world and winner of two straight tournaments coming into the Masters, didn't get to finish his opening round. He had just birdied the 17th hole to get to 1-under when play was suspended at 7:50 p.m.
He will be one of 12 players completing their round at 9 a.m. today. A 90-minute weather delay late in the afternoon didn't allow the golfers to finish.
Duval said the delay didn't affect his game.
``If you want to win this event, you better learn to live with it,'' he said.
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Steve Williams, Woods' caddie, marks his boss' errant ball in an azalea patch off the No. 8 fairway. Woods triple-bogeyed the hole. JONATHAN ERNST/STAFF
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Woods, the 1997 Masters winner, exercised patience after making his triple bogey.
``I just had to hang in there and be patient,'' he said. ``I just made a couple of mistakes. I am playing really well and just trying to stay patient.''
On No. 8, Woods pulled his tee shot into the left woods, and found his ball next to some pine cones he couldn't move. So he tried to hit out, but the ball hit a tree and wound up in a bed of flowers.
From there Woods took an unplayable lie, then went back to the original spot and punched out into the fairway with his fourth shot. From there, his 6-iron approach went over the green, and he chipped back on and two-putted.
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David Duval watches his tee shot on the No. 11 hole during the first round of the Masters at Augusta National on Thursday. MICHAEL HOLAHAN/STAFF
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``The blunder came on the tee shot,'' Woods said. ``In the past, when I'm 2-over, I would try and be aggressive right away. Now I say to myself be patient. I have a lot of holes left. I had 64 holes left. I'm trying to be more patient now.''
Woods birdied Nos. 1, 4, 5, 12, 13 and 14. He made bogeys at Nos. 3, 6 and 17 to go with the triple bogey.
``At worst, I should have made a double bogey at No. 8,'' Woods said. ``But on a tough day like this you know you can get it back.''
Ironically, Woods birdied the three holes on the back nine that Duval bogeyed -- Nos. 12, 13 and 14.
For a while, Duval appeared to be in control of the tournament, touring the front nine in 3-under.
``I made a bad decision on one hole, a bad swing on another, and the wind got me,'' he said.
A pulled tee shot cost him bogey at No. 12. On the par-5 13th, his tee shot found Rae's Creek and he had to take a penalty shot. On the 14th, a good drive went for naught when his approach was knocked down by the wind and spun off the green.
``You're going to run into some bad stuff,'' Duval said. ``You've got to outweigh it with good stuff.''
Duval, Woods suffer lapses 
