Is a table without tr valid?

Is it valid HTML to omit the tr elements in a table if you have only a single row? If it isn't valid, do all current browsers interpret it as intended?

In other words, does this ...

<table>
     <td>column 1</td>
     <td>column 2</td>
</table>

... behave the same as this ...

<table>
   <tr>
     <td>column 1</td>
     <td>column 2</td>
   </tr>
</table>

?