Golf: This has been a crazy old US Masters, and it is barely up and running yet. In a car park half-a-mile down Washington Road, which is nothing more than an empty field, without any fencing, protestors have been having their say about the male-only membership policy at Augusta National Golf Club.

In America, everyone has the right to say whatever they wish, and who they want to join their club. It's just the way it is.

And, of course, the weather gods have been having some fun and games too. But the really crazy part started to unfold yesterday, during the delayed first round of the Masters, the year's first major. Tiger Woods, the world's number one, and seeking to become the first player ever to win three successive titles here, imitated a hacker. So too the world's number two, Ernie Els.

And, oh, also the world's number three, Davis Love III. Crazy old world.

There was also agony for Padraig Harrington, who had entered the championship in bullish mood - particularly after his runners-up finish to Love in the Players' Championship two weeks ago - but who hooked his opening two drives and struggled his way to a first round 77.

So, on a day of the bizarre, Darren Clarke - for so long a fringe player in the majors - decided it was time to start chasing his destiny.

A course that had reached saturation point on Thursday, following days of incessant rain which dumped over four inches of water on the pristine fairways and greens, was finally deemed fit to be played. Although the areas outside the ropes resembled a mud bath, the fairways - albeit a little soft - and the greens - remarkably fast, thanks to the vacuum air suctions under the surface - were finally playable; and nobody played them as well as Clarke.

In compiling a first round six-under-par 66, Clarke - whose previous best finish in the Masters came in his debut year in 1998, when he finished tied-eighth - took a tight, early grip on the title, establishing a first round lead of three shots over Sergio Garcia and American amateur Ricky Barnes.

It may be a little soon to start measuring his ample frame for a green jacket, but the way in which he conquered the course, and the tough, grinding conditions, didn't make it all that fanciful a notion.

Indeed, the score was carved with maturity and a calm head that wasn't always on his shoulders in past championships.

On the type of mentally tough and physical day that saw Woods open with a 76 - 10 shots worse than Clarke - and Els fire a 79 and Love come in with a 77, Clarke's round was, he perceived, "one of the best I've ever shot. It's not far off it, that's for sure."

Soon after shooting his round of 66, and before he grabbed a quick lunch prior to heading out for the second round, which he knew he wouldn't get to complete due to darkness, Clarke was able to find time for a quick chat with his sports psychologist Dr Bob Rotella, the man who has played a key part in his quest to become a major winner.

"I've been playing well this past while and it has been a case of being patient and hanging in there and just waiting for something good to happen," said Clarke.

"I played very solid all day, and made very few mistakes which is the key to playing Augusta."

And when he did need a break, he got it. On the seventh hole, his 16th, he pushed his tee shot into trees but it came back out onto the fairway. He made par. But there was so much good golf that went before that.

Starting on the 10th, he opened with a birdie - holing from 20 feet after an eight-iron approach - and then got a reality check when bogeying the 11th, three putting from 35 feet.

His run really started on the 13th, a par five of 510 yards where, after a big drive, he hit a five-wood approach over Rae's Creek to the green and two-putted from 35 feet. Birdie. On the 14th, he rolled in an eight-footer.

Back-to-back birdies. On the 500 yards 15th, he again smashed a drive down the fairway and hit a six-iron approach in to 25 feet. Eagle. In no uncertain way, Clarke had announced his arrival to the rest of the field.

Then, Clarke added further birdies on the first, his 10th, when hitting an eight-iron approach stiff and then grabbed his final birdie of the first round with a sand iron approach to a couple of inches on the third.

It was the perfect start in Clarke's quest to become the first Irish player to win a major since Fred Daly won the British Open at Hoylake in 1947.

Clarke's mood was quite a contrast to that of Harrington, the world number eight. He snap-hooked his first two drives, and admitted: "Those drives really killed me. They put me on the back foot for the rest of the round. I also made some clubbing errors, and they compounded the mistakes I made and left myself with too much to do."