Faldo, a three-time winner here, endured a trying day at Augusta

The 48-year-old Englishman carded a seven-over 79 and now faces an uphill battle to make the cut for the weekend.

Faldo, whose 1996 win here was the last by a British player, started with a bogey at the lengthened par-four 1st.

He played par golf for the next seven holes but double-bogeyed the 9th and 11th. Another shot went on the 15th and he then bogeyed the last.

"I need to be playing a lot more and you need a lot of self confidence to play this place - I ain't got the guns for this place," said Faldo, who also won here in 1989 and 1990.

"If you mis-hit your drives a little bit you've got 200 (yards) to the hole and, trying to land it, you go over the green.

My short game was appalling and birdie chances are a lot more limited than when I was last here Paul McGinley Quotes of the day

"I can't hole the putts at the moment and it makes life very difficult."

Matching Faldo's 79 was another three-time Augusta winner, South Africa's Gary Player. Unfortunately for Faldo, Player is 22 years his senior and the oldest man in the field at 70.

But as disappointed as Faldo will be with his first-round effort, he will still feel better about his chances of making the weekend than David Duval will about his.

The former world number one had a dreadful day, crawling back to the clubhouse after a 12-over-par 84.

The 34-year-old American's career has gone into freefall since winning the 2001 Open at Royal Lytham and he has failed to make the cut in his last three appearances at Augusta.

A runner-up here in 1998 and 2001, Duval opened with bogeys at the 1st, 3rd and 6th. Worse was to follow.

He then double-bogeyed the 8th to reach the turn in 41. Then the wheels really came off.

Another double at 10 was followed by five more shots lost over the next four holes. Thankfully, the former Ryder Cup star managed to stem the flow of dropped shots and parred the last four holes.

The course is not quite the same as '91 and my body's not either Ian Woosnam 1991 Masters champion

His total, however, was his worst score in 10 Masters appearances, "beating" the 83 he scored in the second round in 2003.

Other big-name players to struggle were Augusta native Charles Howell III, who carded an 80, and Ireland's Ryder Cup hero Paul McGinley, who managed a 78.

McGinley had a tough time from the moment he double-bogeyed the 1st. After finding the trees with his drive, he went for a small gap in the pines but hit a trunk and watched as his ball shot across the 9th fairway.

"I thought it was worth the gamble, but my short game was appalling and birdie chances are a lot more limited than when I was last here," he said.

Ian Woosnam, Europe's Ryder Cup captain, was one shot better off after a 77, but he lost his head-to-head battle with playing partner Tom Lehman - the American Ryder Cup captain carded a 76.

"The course is not quite the same as '91 (his winning year) and my body's not either. A 77 is not the end of the world, but it's a tough old slog out there," said Woosnam.