Pro's Perspective: When Mud Is a Factor Calcavecchia, in his third season on the Champions Tour, will provide a daily Masters blog, as well as in-round analysis, for The New York Times. Playing in the first major of the year is always tough because of the pressures and the nerves, but now you have to add in another x factor: Mud balls. I thought the scores would be lower in Thursday's first round of the Masters, but I didn't take into account the mud-ball factor. Every player was having to deal with mud balls, and I'm sure that will continue in Friday's second round. When there's mud on your ball, it does goofy things. People always say if there's mud on the left, the ball will go to the right, and vice versa, but that's not always the case. If the mud is not caked on it, it flies off right when you make contact. But if it stays on it, the ball does goofy things. That's especially tough when there's a hazard in front of you. The uncertainty factor makes it a guessing game on the ultimate fine-line golf course. The Masters should have gone to lift, clean and place yesterday, but the Augusta guys are never going to do that. They're just like the USGA guys at the U.S. Open - they are not going to change. Because of that, it's going to be a crapshoot until the course dries out for the weekend. I thought it was kind of funny when Tiger Woods mentioned he was having problems with his (Hank) Haney backswing in the first round. I guess none of Hank's swing thoughts crept in when Tiger was winning at Bay Hill two weeks ago. But I think Hank crossed the line by writing the book on one of his players; I refuse to read it. I was surprised to see Tiger not play well on the back nine. After those two bad early drives, he had it to two-under after 12 holes. I had him penciled in for a 68 when he was on the 13th tee. But what really surprised me was how Phil Mickelson was hitting the ball all over the place. When he lost his ball off the 10th tee, it was so far off the fairway the people in the gallery were clueless as to where it was. I never lost a ball at the Masters. But Phil is playing well enough coming into this week, it wouldn't surprise me if he shot three- or four-under Friday to get back in it, even though the conditions are going to be tougher because of the wind. Lee Westwood is certainly due to win a major. He looked Thursday like the only one who was in complete control and he was pretty relaxed. I believe he's going to be there at the end on Sunday. The key for guys like Tiger, Phil and Rory McIlroy Friday is to make sure they make the cut. The last thing you want to do is miss the cut and have to leave your house when you've already paid $15,000 for renting it. I can't imagine that U.S. Ryder Cup captain Davis Love III is too thrilled with so few Americans at the top of the leader board. But you have to give the Europeans credit. They have been playing really well for quite a while.