Forget Tiger Woods. Fred Couples and Tom Watson made Thursday a one-day Golden Age of golf.

AUGUSTA, Ga. - I heard this while passing through the Augusta National media center Thursday night:

“Best Thursday ever.”

Tiger Woods and his best-ever first-round Masters score of 68? Whatever. Tiger drew the lion's share of the media attention here, sure. But this day belonged to two vintage champions who had sensational opening-round performances.

Fifty-year-old Fred Couples had his best score in all his 97 rounds in this tourney, a 6-under-par 66 that gave him the lead.

Tom Watson, 60, set the bar high for his fellow Champions Tour player earlier in the day with his 67. It matched Watson's best score in his 119 rounds here.

Watson hasn't made a 36-hole cut here since 2002, and hadn't shot a 67 in the Masters in 20 years.

The two geezers did the unthinkable in denying Woods all the spotlight on this day for his vastly publicized return to golf.

Couples was the 1992 Masters champion. When Watson won his second title here, in 1981, Woods was 5 years old.

It was only one round, as these players are fond of saying on Thursdays, but still. This was semi-incredible. Even if Couples has won three Champions Tour events already this season and has looked terrific in doing so. Even if Watson was so brilliant in last year's British Open before losing in a playoff to Stewart Cink.

“After what he did at the British Open,” Phil Mickelson said, “you could think he could keep this up. He's going to be a real factor in this event, and I would not be surprised if he was.”

Mickelson was one of four other players to shoot 67, but was only on the undercard of the marquee leaderboard.

I caught Watson's play at the eighth and ninth holes, when he was 2-under. I wanted to see him hit a shot or two before he faded away. On No. 9, he outdrove playing partner Tim Clark by a good 20 yards and equaled the distance of bomber Steve Marino.

And he didn't fade away, as his bogey-free scorecard attested.

“I've never played with him,” Zach Johnson said, “but others have told me he still hits it hard. He's still got the distance to play out here.”

Watson's son, 27-year-old Michael Watson, is caddying for him here.

“He said ‘Dad, show me. Show me you can still play this golf course.' You know what? I wanted to show him I can still play the golf course.”

Couples has played great golf this year on the Champions Tour, for pros 50 years and older. He has three wins.

“I thought I could come here and play well,” Couples said, “because I have been playing well.”

“Winning breeds winning,” said Woods, talking about Couples instead of himself.

But the oldest Masters champion was Jack Nicklaus at the tender age of 46, in 1986.

“To win Augusta at age 50 would be a pipe dream,” Couples said. “Can I still win? Of course. It would be a nice dream, that's for sure. But I've got a lot of golf left to even think about being in contention.”

So, a day that most thought would completely be the Tiger Woods Circus was considerably more than that. Not that there weren't two vivid distractions during the afternoon here.

Early in Woods' round, a small plane flew high above the course with a banner streaming behind it that read “Tiger: Did You Mean Bootyism?”

That was a reference to Woods' claim he is leaning on Buddhism to help him become a better person, and to, uh, something else.

About two hours later, the same plane was over Augusta National, with this banner: “Sex Addict? Yeah. Sure. Me, Too.”

A Toledo, Ohio-based advertising agency is responsible. More such ads reportedly will be airborne here today.

Unlike old guys Couples and Watson, that isn't playing very well here.