For five holes Thursday, it seemed like old times at Augusta National Golf Club for Tom Watson.

The two-time Masters champion made a good up-and-down at the first hole, knocked in a six-foot birdie putt at the second hole, then rebounded from a bogey to chip in from 45 feet for birdie at the fifth.

That put the 57-year-old World Golf Hall of Fame member into a tie for the lead in the first round of the Masters.

He didn't end that way, but as Watson sees it, his eventual 3-over-par 75 was probably a solid round, given his age and the difficulty of the course.

Watson finished six shots behind co-leaders Justin Rose and Brett Wetterich.

"That's probably an average score for me here," said Watson, who is playing his 34th Masters. "I think I'm a 3-handicap here now."

Watson might have played better than average. He had his best opening round since 2002, when he shot 71. That also was the last year he made the cut.

He showed signs of the same feisty competitiveness when he lamented making bogey on his last two holes.

"You never want to finish like that," he said.

He battled all day on the hard and fast playing surface, finishing ahead of more than a few younger, longer contenders.

"I played a fair round of golf," he said. "The greens were very firm, and the course had a feel to it that we haven't seen in a few years. We haven't had any rain this week, and this northwest wind is the most difficult wind you can have out here. There are so many tough holes into the wind ... (Nos.) 1, 13, 15, 18... and this course proved to be a really good test."

Watson said the Augusta National competition committee did a good job of reading the weather conditions and not making the course even more difficult.

"They moved a lot of tees up," he said. "I thought I was playing the senior tees sometimes. But mostly, they did a great job of giving us the same course on Thursday that we practiced on Wednesday. They haven't always done that."