Consistency keys Gary Woodland's 2-under 70

Gary Woodland has had more dynamic days at Augusta National Golf Club than the one he turned in Thursday.

Like his first round ever in 2011 when he fired a 3-under 69 that included a birdie barrage on the back nine. Or the 69 in 2014's third round when he tied the front-nine record with 6-under 30.

But in terms of consistency, Woodland arguably has never been better than this, spending part of his day atop the leaderboard and finished with 2-under 70.

Photos: 2019 Masters Round 1

"I felt good today," he said. "I felt good on the range. ... I drove the golf ball well today. I felt good over the putter. I made some nice saves for par."

Only bogeys to start and finish his round kept the day from being Woodland's best scoring round at Augusta National. In between those hiccups, he was virtually flawless.

Woodland attacked when he wanted to and played conservatively when necessary. The game plan he devised went pretty much the way it was designed. 

"I'm a lot more comfortable here, and that's because I'm a lot more comfortable with my game," Woodland said. "I've gotten a lot of knowledge playing with guys like (Tom) Watson and people who have been here before, local caddies. I have the information and obviously Butchie (Brennan Little) on the bag, he's won here before.

"But I'm more confident in my game and doing what I'm doing. The big thing for me today was I wasn't aiming at many pins. I aimed where I was supposed to hit it."

Another big key for Woodland's strong showing was a hot day with his putter. He didn't roll in any bombs of considerable distance but routinely made one tester after another to save par. Arguably his biggest putt of the day came on No. 18, a 14-footer for bogey to avoid a final-hole collapse.

"The putter felt great," said Woodland, who made a change with the flat stick this week, going to a larger grip after trying Kevin Kisner's out during a practice round. "The good thing for me today was I kept it below the hole. When you do that, you can putt aggressively."

Woodland exorcised some past demons Thursday. In his 17 previous rounds at Augusta National, Woodland had never made birdie on Nos. 5 or 7.  He conquered both Thursday. He stuck his approach on the new-look and longer No. 5 to nine feet and ran home the birdie putt, then drained a 17-footer for birdie on No. 7.

"That was nice," Woodland said. "I played more aggressively on both of them. I've hit 3-wood on those holes almost every year I've been here, and I hit driver on them today. That puts shorter clubs in my hands."