Augusta, Ga. ? Chad Campbell kept pouring in birdies, five in a row to start his round, then four straight on the back nine as the gallery kept up its endless cheering on a day of record scoring.

There were 354 birdies and six eagles. There were 38 rounds under par, half of those in the 60s.

For all those staggering numbers, what made the Masters come to life Thursday was the sweetest of sounds.

The roars returned to Augusta National.

“This day was reminiscent of how it used to be,” Tiger Woods said. “You could go out there on that back nine and make some birdies, and if you caught some good gusts, you could shoot some pretty good numbers.”

No one did that better than Campbell.

The quiet Texan led a charge that dispelled the myth that the thrill was gone from the Masters, getting off to the best start in tournament history before two late bogeys forced him to settle for a 7-under 65 and a one-shot lead over Jim Furyk and Hunter Mahan.

Woods got into the action, too, running off three straight birdies late in the afternoon until his momentum stalled and he shot 70. Even so, it was his first time to break par in the first round of the Masters in seven years.

And more than 11 hours of action-packed golf gave the tournament the excitement it had been missing for most of the decade.

“It is nice to hear some noises again,” Sandy Lyle said.

Augusta National cooked up the perfect formula for record scoring — warm sunshine and only a gentle breeze, along with inviting hole locations and greens that were soft and smooth.

“They must have felt sorry for us,” Campbell said.

Masters chairman Billy Payne had said this year would be an important test to show that supersizing the golf course — it has been stretched more than 500 yards this decade — would not take the birdies out of the Masters.

The weather was ideal, yes, but the club did its part, too, with greens softer than they have been all week and hole locations that allowed players to attack the pins.

The 38 rounds under par — and the 19 rounds in the 60s — both set a Masters record for the first round.

The average score was 72.25, nearly two shots easier than a year ago and the lowest since it was 72.06 in 1992.