SportsLine wire reports

AUGUSTA, Ga. -- Usually around this time of year, Brandel Chamblee makes sure he does his taxes, then gets some refreshments together and invites friends over to his Phoenix home for a little party watching the Masters on television.

His friends will have to find another place to gather this weekend. Their buddy is tied for the lead after the first round of his first Masters.

"I felt like I played here before just by watching it on TV all these years," Chamblee said after shooting an opening 69 to tie Davis Love III and Scott McCarron. "But television doesn't do it justice."

Chamblee, a one-time PGA Tour winner but longtime tour grinder, eagled the par-5 13th and made only two bogeys to make his unlikely Masters debut at the age of 36 a success.

And he credits part of it, of all things, to a hybrid club called the Zoom that helped him eagle 13 from 216 yards.

"It's quite an ugly club the first time you see it, but when you hit it, it gets much prettier," Chamblee said.

The first Masters rookie to share the lead since Tom Lehman in 1993, Chamblee wasn't sure what to expect when he teed off in the morning with former champion Jose Maria Olazabal and Bill Glasson.

While Olazabal and Glasson both held the lead at one point, it was Chamblee who knocked an 8-iron close for a birdie on the 18th hole to get safely into the clubhouse at 3 under after a nerve-racking first day on Augusta National's baked greens.

That was a shot he learned from watching the Masters on television over the last 24 years.

"I know this golf course just from watching TV like everybody," he said. "I've been watching it since 1975, so I knew if I hit it to the right of the hole, it would kick back."

The round came after Chamblee spent five days hanging around Augusta National, soaking up the ambiance and wondering if the good shots he had been hitting on the driving range would carry over to actual play.

"I didn't really know how I was going to handle the first day," Chamblee said. "I was hoping that I could come out and try to stay loose and relaxed. And I did."

Chamblee is used to gathering with friends at his Arizona home during Masters week.(AP)

Chamblee, who qualified for the Masters by winning the Greater Vancouver Open, had his best year on the PGA Tour last season, earning $755,936. He's also had a successful start to this year, missing only three cuts and finishing fifth at Bay Hill.

That, however, did nothing to prepare him for the Masters experience that began Saturday when he drove up Magnolia Drive.

He walked into the nearly empty clubhouse, had lunch under the giant oak tree overlooking the 18th hole and tried to enjoy himself as much as possible.

"That's the intriguing thing about this place. Everybody wants to see it and they can't get in here but one week of the year. I don't know anybody who wouldn't love to be a member of this golf club," Chamblee said.

Chamblee had just come off his first bogey of the day at the tricky par-3 12th when he hit a drive down the right side of 13, leaving him 216 yards over water to the green.

When the wind freshened just a bit as he began his swing, Chamblee knew it was the perfect distance for his Zoom, a kind of cross between a wood and an iron.

The ball hit on the green and just missed the cup, rolling by and leaving Chamblee a four-footer for eagle.

"Once it landed, I thought it was going in," he said. "It was right behind the hole. So from my point of view, it looked right by the hole."

And if those kind of shots continue, his friends will have to watch the Masters by themselves.

"This is a lot more fun," Chamblee said.

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