AUGUSTA, Ga. -- With the morning sun backlighting the Georgia pines, Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus struck the ceremonial first tee shots to start the 75th Masters, then stepped aside to let the real tournament begin.

Perhaps they should have just said, "Gentlemen, start your engines."

The assault began when Retief Goosen holed his second shot from the fairway at No. 1 for only the second eagle on the opening hole in the history of the tournament. And it didn't end until K.J. Choi birdied five of the last six holes at the Augusta National Golf Club.

In between, nobody raced to the front of the pack faster than young Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland, a 21-year old prodigy who seems to get as much attention for his pot-shots at Tiger Woods as what he has accomplished on the golf course.

And few stormed to the finish better than long-hitting Alvaro Quiros of Spain, who birdied the final two holes and three of the last four to catch McIlroy at the top of the first-round leaderboard with a 7-under 65.

"I don't think there's any position better than first," McIlroy said. "If you're in the lead, you're in the pole position."

How he got there differed greatly from Quiros, 29, a five-time winner on the European PGA Tour.

Making only his third Masters appearance, McIlroy birdied three of the first four holes, seven overall, and didn't make a bogey.

Quiros, playing in the final group of the day, made four birdies and a bogey in the final six holes to better by 10 shots his best-ever score in four previous rounds at the Masters.

"When I arrived at the golf course, I didn't even see the scores," Quiros said. "I just check what Sergio (Garcia) was doing and (Jose Maria) Olazabal, and Miguel Angel (Jimenez) because they are the Spanish guys. You have to see, this is my third appearance here and the others, my best score was 75. I cannot be pretending to see the leaderboard. It would be stupid."

On a picturesque day that offered ideal scoring conditions, McIlroy and Quiros were among 13 players who shot in the 60s and 30 players who broke par in the first round at Augusta National. They were being chased on the leader board by Choi, who capped off his birdie streak with a 40-foot putt at No. 18; and Tiger-slayer and 2009 PGA champion Y.E. Yang, who bogeyed the final two holes. They each shot 5-under 67.

Defending champion Phil Mickelson looked as though he would be the only player other than McIlroy to not make a bogey, even though he hit only four of 14 fairways. But that prospect ended when Mickelson bogeyed the final hole to shoot 70.

"I scrambled well to stay in there, but I also let four of five birdie opportunities slide," Mickelson said. "I'm going to have to capitalize on those opportunities [today] if I'm going to go low."

Fast starts in majors are nothing new for McIlroy. He opened with a record 63 and held a two-shot lead in last year's British Open, only to shoot 80 in the wind-blown second round. Nonetheless, McIlroy came back and shot 69-68 on the weekend to finish tied for third at St. Andrews -- the third time he has finished third in nine career major appearances.

Thursday, McIlroy wasted little time getting off to a fast start, making birdie at the par-5 second from three feet, wedging in for birdie at No. 3, and hitting a 4-iron at the 238-yard fourth to 20 feet for his third consecutive birdie.

"It was pretty similar," McIlroy said, comparing the two opening-round performances. "The thing about the round at St. Andrews, nothing really started to happen until the back nine. Today, I felt as though I built the foundation of the round on the front nine.

"I wouldn't say it was as explosive or spectacular as the 63 at St. Andrews, but it was very solid from start to finish."

McIlroy's presence on the world stage is nothing new, either. He is only the second player to break into the top 10 in the official world rankings at age 20 (Sergio Garcia was the other). His final-round 62 in last year's Wachovia Championship made him the first player since Woods to win a PGA Tour event before the age of 21.

McIlroy gained almost as much notoriety at the Ryder Cup when, talking about the possibility of facing a struggling Woods in singles, he said, "Unless his game rapidly improves in the next month or so, I think anyone in the European team would fancy his chances against him."

Woods did not fire back with any zingers when asked about McIlroy after an opening 71, only the seventh time in 17 Masters appearances he has broken par in the first round.

"He's got a lot of talent, a lot of talent," said Woods, who has dropped to seventh in the world rankings . "As we all know, he has a wonderful golf swing. It's just a matter of time before he starts winning a bunch of tournaments."

The Block News Alliance consists of The Blade and the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Gerry Dulac is a reporter for the Post-Gazette.

First Published April 8, 2011, 6:51 a.m.