Mark Wilson was cruising along in his Masters

Mark Wilson was cruising along in his Masters

Mark Wilson was cruising along in his Masters debut Thursday before an uphill birdie putt, of all things, caused him to come temporarily unglued.Wilson, the FedEx Cup points leader from Menomonee Falls, Wis., shot a disappointing 4-over-par 76. Afterward, he was shaking his head about his "out-of-body experience" on the par-5 eighth hole.After Wilson And His Golf Performance making seven pars to start the round, Wilson had a 10-foot birdie putt to get to 1-under."I got a little ahead of myself," he said. "I firmed it through the break and missed a 3-footer coming back, and then I missed another 3-footer. I kind of learned a lesson there. I was counting that birdie before I hit it."Wilson, 36, proceeded to bogey No. 9 after a bad drive, bogey No. 10 after his ball picked up mud in the fairway and bogey No. 11 after another bad drive."I was surprised at what I did on eight," he said. "Normally, I'm able to put that behind me, but I didn't do a good job of it today. It took me a couple holes, and I paid for it."He finally settled down and birdied Nos. 13 and 14 but missed a short par putt on No. 18.

Wilson had a great look at eagle on the par-5 13th after hitting a 3-hybrid from 217 yards to within 6 feet. But he said he misread the putt and then pushed it a hair, too."If I could have just rolled a few putts in on the back I could have made four or five birdies and an eagle," he said. "But I still feel good about things."I do some dumb things around here, I know that," Stricker said with a laugh. "But I managed to right the ship. It's not the start I wanted but I'm in OK shape and we get out early tomorrow (8:24 a.m.)."Stricker bogeyed the first hole, didn't take advantage of the par-5 second and bogeyed No. 6."The greens were fairly smooth, but the scary thing here is they pick up speed from Wednesday to Thursday," he said. "So you're a little tentative early in the round."