Four-time Green Jacket winner Tiger Woods made his long-awaited return to Augusta National on Thursday and was pleased with his opening efforts.
Woods is in the pile at +1, that includes South Africa’s Branden Grace, after a 73 that included flashes of brilliance and some typically wild drives.
‘Seventy-three is fine,’ Woods said. ‘It’s really hard to run away from it, but it’s also really easy to lose it out there.
‘By the end of the week, there will be a bunch of guys with a chance to win this tournament.’
The world watched as he made his way from the range to the first tee and was fortunate to scramble a par save after finding the pine straw and trees left of the fairway.
‘It has been awesome this entire comeback,’ Woods said. ‘I got a standing ovation on the range. Coming up to the first tee, the people come out of the clubhouse and the putting green, they’re really into it.’
A wild drive to start Amen Corner was compounded with a second-shot mistake, although Woods blamed an overzealous crowd for interrupting his ball.
‘It was a great shot there,’ said Woods.
‘Unfortunately, people ran out and it clipped them. Otherwise it’s just short right of the green, an easy up and down from there, where I was trying to leave it.’
After finding Rae’s Creek on the 12th, he failed to birdie either of the par fives but did manage to gain strokes on the field with a birdie on the 14th and another on the 16th.
‘I could have easily let it slip away. And I fought hard to get it back and I’m back in this championship,’ said the 42-year-old.
‘I looked at it as a positive and preparation for later in the week. Hopefully, we’re there on Sunday afternoon.’
First round leaderboard (a- amateur):
66 – Jordan Spieth (USA)
68 – Tony Finau (USA), Matt Kuchar (USA)
69 – Adam Hadwin (CAN), Li Haotong (CHN), Henrik Stenson (SWE), Charley Hoffman (USA), Patrick Reed (USA), Rory McIlroy (NIR), Rafael Cabrera Bello (ESP)
70 – Bernd Wiesberger (AUT), Zach Johnson (USA), Marc Leishman (AUS), Phil Mickelson (USA), Rickie Fowler (USA)
71 – Vijay Singh (FIJ), Satoshi Kodaira (JPN), Cameron Smith (AUS), Xander Schauffele (USA), Louis Oosthuizen (RSA)
72 – Francesco Molinari (ITA), Kyle Stanley (USA), Charl Schwartzel (RSA), a-Doug Ghim (USA), Fred Couples (USA), Kevin Kisner (USA) Tommy Fleetwood (ENG), Justin Rose (ENG)
73 – Ted Potter Jr. (USA), Brian Harman (USA), Daniel Berger (USA), Pat Perez (USA), Jason Dufner (USA), Hideki Matsuyama (JPN), Branden Grace (RSA), Tiger Woods (USA), Bubba Watson (USA), Jimmy Walker (USA), Russell Henley (USA), Thomas Pieters (BEL), Dustin Johnson (USA)
74 – Austin Cook (USA), Wesley Bryan (USA), Ryan Moore (USA), Jose Maria Olazabal (ESP), Bryson DeChambeau (USA), Paul Casey (ENG), Martin Kaymer (GER), Justin Thomas (USA), Sandy Lyle (SCO), Ian Poulter (ENG), Bernhard Langer (GER), Tyrrell Hatton (ENG), Alex Noren (SWE)
75 – Jason Day (AUS), Kim Si-woo (KOR), Patrick Cantlay (USA), Matthew Fitzpatrick (ENG), Danny Willett (ENG), Adam Scott (AUS), Jon Rahm (ESP)
76 – Angel Cabrera (ARG), Mike Weir (CAN), a-Joaquin Niemann (CHI), Yuta Ikeda (JPN), Brendan Steele (USA), Patton Kizzire (USA), a-Doc Redman (USA), Billy Horschel (USA), Chez Reavie (USA), Larry Mize (USA), Webb Simpson (USA)
77 – Shubhankar Sharma (IND), Dylan Frittelli (RSA), Kevin Chappell (USA), Jhonattan Vegas (VEN), Yusaku Miyazato (JPN)
78 – Trevor Immelman (RSA), Mark O’Meara (USA), Ross Fisher (ENG), Gary Woodland (USA)
79 – Lin Yuxin (CHN), Ian Woosnam (WAL), Kiradech Aphibarnrat (THA)
81 – Sergio Garcia (ESP), a-Matt Parziale (USA)
86 – a-Harry Ellis (ENG)
Photo: Jamie Squire/Getty Images
