Steve Flesch carded the low round of the day in Augusta after battling the whirling eddies that had in a hand in so many other rounds falling apart. (How/Getty Images)

The sun baked the course. The wind dried it out and yet made palms sweaty as it swirled through the trees and made players agonize over club selection. The greens took on a slick sheen as their speeds increased.

Starting times mattered, with late starters clearly encountering a more menacing and demanding examination.

Three of the five best scores were produced by some of the earliest starters on the tee sheet. Steve Flesch shot the day's low score, a 5-under-par 67, coming out of the second group that began at 8:11 a.m. local time. Leader Trevor Immelman shot a second straight 68 two groups behind Flesch for a one-stroke lead over Brandt Snedeker, who came in three pairings later with a 68.

Two former Masters champions, both lefties, had the other 68s. Two-time winner Phil Mickelson, who teed off at 10:34 a.m. and played most of his round in the afternoon, had one, while Mike Weir, the '03 champ, equaled that despite playing in the third-to-last pairing.

"When I played the front nine, there was something out there. It was calm, there wasn't any wind, and we could get at some pins," said Mickelson, who managed to escape without a bogey to tie for third place with Flesch and Ian Poulter at 5-under 139. Poulter shot a 69. "They [the leaders] finished before I made the turn, so they didn't get the wind picking up. It's not that it's very strong. It's swirling, and that's what makes it tough."

That proved to be the case. Of all the players that teed off after noon, only one other man besides Weir -- Nick Dougherty -- broke 70. The Englishman had a 69.

Meanwhile, defending champion Zach Johnson stumbled to 76 in the later wave. First-round co-leader Justin Rose struggled to a 78 with a triple bogey on No. 15 followed by a bogey on the 16th hole after teeing off the final group at 2:30 p.m.

"It's not as fast as I'd like it to be," Flesch said even after he shot the lowest round at the Masters in the last two years. "It's still a little damp; I don't see the ball running in the fairways all week, and I'm sure the greens will get firmer and faster. Still, it's as tough as ever."

But not as tough as the first round, when the greens were even softer, but the hole locations were dicey. The field averaged 73.554 strokes on Friday compared to 74.180 on Thursday.

"If you played well, it's out there to score," said 2000 Masters champion Vijay Singh after a 71. "It's drying out now; it dries out very quickly, and once that happens, it's going to start to play tough."

That turned out to be true. And whatever nature brings this weekend will likely determine how difficult it gets the rest of the tournament.