What they said at the Masters

Lee Westwood is ranked No. 3 in the world and owns 23 career wins between the PGA and European Tours.

But the one glaring thing missing from the Englishman's resume is a major championship, and it was hard not to think about that fact as he took the first-round lead at the Masters on Thursday with a five-under 67.

However, Westwood doesn't seem to be worried about getting that breakthrough victory. He wants to win a major, surely, but he's not too concerned about how it will define his career.

"I prefer people to remember me as the person I am rather than the golf," Westwood said. "Obviously if I sit down at the end of my career with no major championship wins, I'll be disappointed. If there's five, six, I'll be delighted. At the end of the day, that won't change actually that much, will it? It'll be the impression I've had among people, and whether I've basically gone away having done more good than bad."

Westwood's best finishes at any major came in 2010, when he was runner-up at both the Masters and British Open. Additionally, he has finished third -- tied or solo -- at both the U.S. Open and PGA Championship.

But his failures to win a major haven't haunted him. Rather, on Thursday, he indicated that he treats those finishes like any other.

"When you're in contention and you don't finish it off, you go home and assess what you did wrong and what you can improve," Westwood said. "I do that after every tournament. It's the only sensible thing to do if you want to improve."

Here's what other players were saying after the first round of the 76th Masters:

- RORY MCILROY, who blew a 63-hole lead at last year's Masters, on getting back into competition at Augusta: "I've been waiting for this day to come around for a couple weeks, to be honest. I've just been waiting and waiting, and it was nice when I finally got here. I'm pretty pleased with how I started. It could have been a little better. But I'll take 71, and hopefully it's a good score to build on."

- TIGER WOODS, the four-time Masters winner, on his swing troubles during Thursday's round after a bad warm-up: "I made some bad swings. That's fine. My commitment to each and every shot, what I was doing, my alignment, my setup, everything was something that I'm excited about and I can take some positives going into tomorrow about that. Granted, it might be late tomorrow, but at least I have something to build on."

- LOUIS OOSTHUIZEN, who shares second place after firing a four-under 68, on the conditions: "They have had so much rain the whole week. It's a pity to play the course this way with the fairways being so wet. But they have done a great job. I expected to have more mud balls today."

- PETER HANSON, who shares second with Oosthuizen, on his approach to the course: "It's scary one way, because if you go out and you're not playing well and if you try to avoid making bogeys like I maybe did last year ... it comes up and bites you pretty fast. My mind set today was try to be really aggressive off the tee and be pretty aggressive into the greens."

- CHARL SCHWARTZEL, who carded an even-par 72, on how he approached the course after winning last year's Masters: "I'm pretty much sticking with what I did last year on most of the holes. It's what I did today and I put myself in play most of the day and, you know, it's a long ways to go."

- PHIL MICKELSON, who has won the Masters three times, on his opening-round driving struggles: "I had a slight technical mishap where I get a little narrow on the downswing and it cause it is block. If I just stay wide I get a lot more speed like 18. When I go after it, I get wider. I hit it harder and I hit it straighter. When I try to steer it, I get narrow and I hit the big slice. So I'll be going after it tomorrow."

- HENRIK STENSON, who slammed his club to the ground while carding a quadruple-bogey at No. 18, on calming down: "Well, I've got a temper, but it's almost like I got past that stage. It's easier to walk away with just changing the bag, no full length clubs anymore or just forget about it, and I need my clubs tomorrow, so I choose that part."

- BUBBA WATSON, who is tied for fourth, on playing in the Masters shortly after he and his wife adopted a baby: "Not that fun because my baby is home and I have to play in the Masters. We have only ... hopefully only three more days of golf and then I'll be home again to hang out with my little boy."