Tiger Woods known as on all of his hard-won stamina and the data gleaned in 5 previous triumphs to launch his boldest Masters bid but with a one-under-par 71 at Augusta Nationwide on Thursday. The 46-year-old celebrity, whose February 2021 automobile crash left him with accidents so extreme he feared he may lose his proper leg, mentioned simply having the ability to play his first aggressive spherical in 17 months was a victory. However it may not be the one one he celebrates this week. “I used to be capable of end up within the purple,” Woods mentioned. “I am proper the place I should be.”
Woods was tied for tenth, 4 photographs behind South Korean Im Sung-jae, who launched his spherical with three straight birdies and completed with 5 birdies and an eagle in his five-under-par 67.
Australian Cameron Smith, like Im chasing a primary main title, was a stroke again after a 68 that was all of the extra outstanding contemplating it was bookended by double bogeys on the first and 18th holes.
Woods had indicated as lately as February that he was unlikely to be able to tee it up within the first main of the yr, and mentioned all week that his largest problem could be negotiating the hilly, 7,510-yard Augusta Nationwide course on his surgically repaired proper leg.
“It didn’t get simpler, let’s put it that means,” he mentioned after a spherical in blustery winds that lasted almost 5 and a half hours. “I can swing a golf membership. The strolling’s not straightforward.
“With all of the laborious work, my leg, it should be troublesome for the remainder of my life.”
Woods mentioned he was buoyed by the adrenaline rush of main competitors.
“I imply, the place was electrical,” mentioned Woods, who hadn’t performed in entrance of followers at Augusta Nationwide since his 2019 triumph ended his 11-year main drought and cemented his return from spinal fusion surgical procedure.
Woods minimize a vibrant determine in a sizzling pink shirt and black trousers, 1000’s of followers on the course straining to catch his each transfer.
A 30-minute delay to the beginning due to pre-dawn thunderstorms solely intensified the anticipation for Woods’s look on the primary tee, the place he was greeted with rapturous applause.
Woods wasn’t delighted together with his opening drive, which got here up wanting the fitting fairway bunker. His method trickled off the inexperienced however he drained a 10-foot par saving putt.
It was simply the primary par save on a day when Woods hit eight of 14 fairways in regulation and simply 9 of 18 greens.
“I do know the place to hit it to quite a lot of these pins, and I miss within the appropriate spots and provides myself good angles,” Woods mentioned.
After watching a 15-foot birdie putt lip out on the fifth, he caught his tee shot on the par-three sixth two toes from the pin for his first birdie.
After a bogey on the par-five eighth — the place “three unhealthy photographs in a row” have been Woods’s largest disappointment of the day — Woods two-putted from 24 toes for a birdie at 13.
He gave a shot again at 14, however curled in a 29-foot birdie putt at 16 earlier than draining one other par-saving 10-footer on the final.
Should-watch Woods
“You simply cannot not watch him,” mentioned Smith, who admitted he could not resist paying attention to Woods’s progress whilst his personal outstanding spherical unfolded.
After his stuttering begin, Smith had eight birdies to succeed in six-under earlier than he closed with one other double.
In the meantime, first spherical chief Im — who completed tied for second on his Masters debut in 2020 — powered up the leaderboard with a trio of birdies on his first three holes.
Whereas excited by his first spherical efficiency, Im cautioned that he would stay “humble.”
“I notice I nonetheless have three days to go,” he mentioned.
England’s Danny Willett, the 2016 Masters champion, Chile’s Joaquin Niemann, world primary Scottie Scheffler and two-time main winner Dustin Johnson have been within the clubhouse on three-under.
Niemann, 23, performed alongside Woods, and mentioned the gang was so loud that he could not hear his caddie on the first tee.
Now Woods followers — and to some extent Woods himself — will spend the night time questioning what Friday will carry.
“My crew has been unimaginable at getting me into this place in order that I can compete,” Woods mentioned. “I will take it from there.”
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