Fresh from his rejuvenation as a rookie on the Champions Tour, 50-year-old Sandy Lyle turned in an inspired performance among the leaders before falling back to end on level-par 72.

Wearing badge No.88, by coincidence the year that he won the Masters all of 20 years ago, the only Scot in the field was playing with such confidence that at one point he was looking good to join Justin Rose in the lead.

However, bogeys at the 15th, 16th, and 18th hauled him back into the pack but still in great shape to play all four rounds for the second year in a row. "It was a disappointing way to finish, but at the start I would have taken par," said Lyle whose son Stuart is on the bag.

"I did a 71 in the last round last year so that's two good scores in a row. I enjoyed this more because I am hitting the ball the way I want to. Any time you shoot level par you don't blow yourself out of the tournament. It helps to have that little bit of knowledge. I often look at younger ones taking on certain shots and think to myself You'll learn'."

After a steady par at the first - his birdie putt lipping out - he nearly came a cropper at the par-5 second where he carved his second shot wildly on to the far side of the third fairway From there he had to wait for the group ahead to clear the third tee while marshals struggled to control spectators in the walkways between to allow Lyle a clear view to the green. He seemed to play a superb pitch beyond the flag tight behind a bunker and as his ball screwed back a birdie chance looked possible except that it rolled on and on until it fell sadly back into the sand.

"Oh come on," protested Lyle who manfully managed a sand save for a par that was anything but a regulation one.

That recovery galvanised Lyle and birdies at the third, fifth and eighth, balanced by a bogey at the difficult seventh, brought him to the turn in 34.

A 2 at the notorious short 12 put him three under, but going for the 15th green in two he overshot, pitched over the green almost into water and failed to get up and down, running up a 6. He compounded that by fluffing a bunker shot at the 16th and running up another bogey, then three-putting the final hole.

Earlier, Arnold Palmer made his way to the first tee for his 7.50am appointment as honorary starter to rapturous applause and announced that he was going to hit the first ball of the 2008 Masters out of sight.

Visibility was not much more than a yard for every one of the 50 years since he won his first green jacket, and he did as promised, spanking one high into the air. As it was lost in the mist there was no doubt he had hit the fairway.

That was the first action for more than an hour to allow the fog to clear. By that time he was on his way home. The 78-year-old didn't leave empty handed having won the nearest the pin prize at the first in the par-3 competition, hitting to 22 inches.

Palmer was still resigned to seeing his record of 50 competitive Masters beaten by 72-year-old Gary Player. "He can go out and shoot whatever he shoots," he said. "I hope he has a good round today." Player had an 83.

Meanwhile, Nick Faldo, the European Ryder Cup captain, has had lunch with Paul Azinger, his opposite number, who allegedly said in a Sunday newspaper that no-one of his generation wanted to know him.

Faldo has said there is nothing to beef about and Azinger said the spirit of his comments had been taken out of context.