Justin Rose is getting into the habit of leading the Masters after his first round. He did it on a cold and windy day last year, and he did it again yesterday, this time on a glorious spring day. His 69 12 months ago was a good score, but his 68 yesterday was remarkable.

After his first four holes he had dropped two strokes, but played his next 14 holes in six under par to claw his way back to finish at four under par, a total he shares with Trevor Immelman, 28, the South African making his sixth appearance at Augusta. Lee Westwood, the English Ryder Cup player, Brandt Snedeker, 27, who is appearing in only his second Masters, is one stroke behind, level with Brian Bateman, his fellow American, who is making his debut in the first of the year’s four major championships.

Rose’s performance put the gloss on an exceptional day for European golf. Westwood, Ian Poulter, Nick Dougherty and Sandy Lyle joined Rose in leading at some stage on a day that began with Arnold Palmer getting away a ceremonial drive just before 8am. There followed a 65-minute delay for fog, but the day ended with the course bathed in sunshine as the late starters battled to finish before darkness set in.

Among the notable European performances, Poulter made a hole in one at the 16th and Luke Donald was three under par as he stood on the 7th tee, only to finish with a disappointing 73. Westwood was tied on four under with Rose and Immelman with two holes to play, but he three-putted the 17th and only exceptional touch from off the green on the last prevented him from dropping shorts on consecutive holes. Just to emphasise how unusual the day was, Tiger Woods had only his second round at Augusta without a birdie in registering a level-par 72.

Lyle, 50, was inspired on the 20th anniversary of his win here and had a score of 72, while Dougherty got to the top of the leaderboard by being two under par after three holes before he fell away to a 74.

Poulter’s clothes sometimes shout louder than his golf, but it was the other way round yesterday. Wearing a muted ensemble of a white shirt striped with green, a pale green visor and matching trousers, he could hardly have placed his ball in better positions than he did in his round of 70, a score he shared with Robert Karlsson. His golf was exceptionally accurate from tee to green and he was let down only by his putting.

“You don’t have to go round in 61 for it to be one of the best you have ever played,” Poulter said. “If I think back on it, there are not many holes where I would want to play differently, to hit to a different spot on a green.” The quality of his round will have silenced those who remember Poulter’s recent, somewhat misinterpreted, comments about how, when he is on song, he and Woods would dominate the game.

The day belonged to Rose, however, for the way that he gritted his teeth after his bad start and recovered to such effect over the remaining 14 holes. Although it appeared to be an ideal day for low scoring, there was less of that than was expected. “I think the course is about perfect now,” Rose said. “They can take it in whichever direction they like. If they want to create more birdies, they can and if they want to make par a good score, then they can do that, too.”

Rose was reminded that he, Poulter and Immelman, who between them were an aggregate of ten under par, had all made a two-day scouting visit to Augusta nearly two weeks ago. He smiled at the memory, perhaps grateful for what it had done for him. “It helped my preparation,” he explained. “I didn’t even play on Tuesday and I wouldn’t have been able to do that if Trevor, Ian and I hadn’t flown up for our recce. It really took the pressure off.”

Woods is expected by many to launch his attack on the grand slam of major championship titles in the same year. Woods is not out of it by any means, but the scratchy way in which he played suggests that he will have to raise his game considerably if he is to win a fifth green jacket on Sunday.

First round leaderboard (USA unless stated, par 72):

68 Trevor Immelman (Rsa), Justin Rose (Eng)

69 Lee Westwood (Eng), Brandt Snedeker, Brian Bateman

70 Robert Karlsson (Swe), Jim Furyk, Zach Johnson, Ian Poulter (Eng), Stephen Ames (Can)

71 Jeev Milkha Singh (Ind), Arron Oberholser, Heath Slocum, Peter Lonard (Aus), Paul Casey (Eng), Phil Mickelson, Mark O’Meara, Retief Goosen (Rsa)

72 Jerry Kelly, Tiger Woods, Andres Romero (Arg), Steve Flesch, Stewart Cink, Vijay Singh (Fij), Daniel Chopra (Swe), Justin Leonard, Robert Allenby (Aus), Sean O’Hair, KJ Choi (Kor), Boo Weekley, Sandy Lyle (Sco), Johnson Wagner

73 Steve Stricker, David Toms, Angel Cabrera (Arg), Michael Thompson, J.B. Holmes, Mark Calcavecchia, Mike Weir (Can), Brett Wetterich, Luke Donald (Eng), Camilo Villegas (Col), Richard Sterne (Rsa)

74 Bernhard Langer (Ger), Ernie Els (Rsa), Nick Dougherty (Eng), Bubba Watson, Todd Hamilton, Nick O’Hern (Aus), Henrik Stenson (Swe), Padraig Harrington (Irl)

75 Nick Watney, Rory Sabbatini (Rsa), Adam Scott (Aus), Vaughn Taylor, Tom Watson, Soren Hansen (Den), Ben Crenshaw, Geoff Ogilvy (Aus), Ben Curtis, Aaron Baddeley (Aus), Niclas Fasth (Swe), Ian Woosnam (Wal), Jonathan Byrd

76 Martin Kaymer (Ger), D. J. Trahan, Toru Taniguchi (Jpn), Fred Couples, Jose-Maria Olazabal (Spa), Sergio Garcia (Spa), Shaun Micheel, Wen-chong Liang (Chn), Drew Weaver, Stuart Appleby (Aus)

77 Michael Campbell (Nzl), Craig Stadler, Hunter Mahan, John Rollins, Miguel Angel Jimenez (Spa), Richard Green (Aus), Larry Mize, Scott Verplank, Tim Clark (Rsa)

78 Trip Kuehne, Charles Howell III

79 Woody Austin, Shingo Katayama (Jpn)

80 Anders Hansen (Den), Ray Floyd, John Senden (Aus)

81 Steve Lowery, Fuzzy Zoeller

82 Prayad Marksaeng (Tha)

83 Gary Player (Rsa)