Though they now make their living on the seasoned golfers tour, Sandy Lyle and Mark O'Meara showed they aren't ready to concede anything to their younger brethren at the 72nd Masters Tournament.

Both former champions made a run at the leaderboard in Thursday's opening round before fading toward the end. Lyle was a shot off the lead at 3-under through No. 12, but bogeys on three of the final four holes brought him back to earth. The 1988 champion finished the day at even-par 72.

O'Meara, who earned his green jacket in 1998, got to 2-under but bogeyed the final hole to finish at 1-under 71.

"Obviously, 51 years of age, 1-under par, I played all right," O'Meara said. "Some of the pins were pretty good out there today. I'm just pleased to shoot under par anytime I play Augusta National."

Both players have found under-par rounds hard to come by recently. Before Thursday, O'Meara hadn't shot below 72 since a second-round 2-under 70 in 2004.

Lyle, who turned 50 in February, broke his streak last year with a final-round 71. Before that, he had gone eight years without breaking par at the Masters.

The Scotsman admitted that he was looking too far ahead when he got to 3-under after his birdie on No. 12.

"I'm thinking that now I'm 3-under and I've got two par-5s on the back coming up," he said after his round. "I thought we could finish the day at 4- or 5-under."

But he "fell asleep" on his third shot from about 70 yards on the par-5 13th and scrambled to save par. It got worse on No. 15. He decided to go for it in two on the par-5 but flew the green. His chip back went into the pond fronting the green.

Three shots later, he limped away with a bogey 6. A bogey on No. 18 capped his late meltdown.

Both of the Champions Tour players, however, are still in good position heading into today's second round. O'Meara is only three shots off the lead, while Lyle is four shots behind Justin Rose and Trevor Immelman, who shot 4-under 68.

"Anytime you're at first-round level par, you're not going to blow yourself out of the tournament there," Lyle said. "You're even better at 3-under, but I'll take that as an opening score."

Reach Mike Wynn at (706) 823-3218 or mike.wynn@augustachronicle.com.