Woods opens boldest Masters challenge

Tiger Woods opened his boldest Masters challenge yet with a one-under-par 71 at Augusta National on Thursday, drawing on all of his hard-won stamina and wisdom from five previous victories.

The 46-year-old legend, who was seriously injured in a car accident in February 2021 and risked losing his right leg, said just being able to play his first competitive round in 17 months was a success.

But it’s possible that this isn’t the only holiday he’ll be commemorating this week.

“I was able to finish up in the red,” Woods said. “I’m right where I need to be.”

Woods was in a tie for tenth place, four shots behind South Korean Im Sung-jae, who started his round with three consecutive birdies and concluded with five birdies and an eagle in a five-under-par 67.

Cameron Smith of Australia, who, like me, is chasing his first major victory, was a stroke back after a 68 that was made all the more extraordinary by double bogeys at the first and 18th holes.

Woods stated all week that navigating the difficult, 7,510-yard Augusta National course on his surgically repaired right leg would be his biggest task. He had said as recently as February that he was unlikely to be ready to tee it up in the first major of the year.

“It did not get easier, let’s put it that way,” he said after a round in blustery winds that lasted nearly five and a half hours. “I can swing a golf club. The walking’s not easy.

“With all the hard work, my leg, it’s going to be difficult for the rest of my life.”

Woods said he was buoyed by the adrenaline rush of major competition.

“I mean, the place was electric,” said Woods, who hadn’t played in front of fans at Augusta National since his 2019 triumph ended his 11-year major drought and cemented his return from spinal fusion surgery.

Thousands of fans on the course strained to catch every move of Woods, who wore a hot pink shirt and black trousers.

The anticipation for Woods’ arrival on the first tee, where he was greeted with wild acclaim, was further heightened by a 30-minute delay in the start due to pre-dawn thunderstorms.

Woods was not pleased with his first drive, which missed the right fairway bunker. His approach sailed off the green, but he saved par with a 10-foot putt.

On a day when Woods only hit eight of 14 fairways in regulation and nine of 18 greens, it was his first par save.

“I know where to hit it to a lot of these pins, and I miss in the correct spots and give myself good angles,” Woods said.

After watching a 15-foot birdie putt at the fifth lip out, he hit his tee shot two feet from the pin on the par-three sixth for his first birdie.

Woods two-putted from 24 feet for a birdie at 13 after a bogey at the par-five eighth, when “three terrible shots in a row” was his worst disappointment of the day.

He retaliated with a stroke at 14, but then sank a 29-foot birdie putt at 16 and a par-saving 10-footer at the 18th.

Must-watch Woods

“You just can’t watch him,” said Smith, who admitted he couldn’t resist taking note of Woods’s progress even as his own remarkable round unfolded.

After his stuttering start, Smith had eight birdies to reach six-under before he closed with another double.

Meanwhile, first-round leader Im — who finished tied for second on his Masters debut in 2020 — powered up the leaderboard with a trio of birdies on his first three holes.

While excited by his first round performance, Im cautioned that he would remain “humble.”

“I realize I still have three days to go,” he said.

England’s Danny Willett, the 2016 Masters champion, Chile’s Joaquin Niemann, world number one Scottie Scheffler and two-time major winner Dustin Johnson were in the clubhouse on three-under.

Niemann, 23, played alongside Woods, and said the crowd was so loud that he couldn’t hear his caddie at the first tee.

Now Woods fans — and to some extent, Woods himself — will spend the night wondering what Friday will bring.

“My team has been incredible at getting me into this position so that I can compete,” Woods said. “I’ll take it from there.”

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