AUGUSTA, Ga. -- The ultimate apex predator was forced to admit Thursday that sometimes he can be happy even if he doesn’t eviscerate every poor prey item in sight.
Just being in the hunt again can be its own reward.
Tiger Woods’ definition of victory seemed to go through a major edit over the first round of the Masters. No, he does not lead the Masters after Day One, not after a tidy 1-under 71. And he does not mind one bit.
Winning tournaments is what made Woods. But asked afterward if this relatively modest round could be considered a win after spending the last 13-plus months recovering from a shattered leg, he quickly agreed.
“Yes,” he said. “If you would have seen how my leg looked (after his February, 2021 car crash) to where it’s at now – some of the (fellow pros) know. They’ve seen the pictures, and they’ve come over to the house and they’ve seen it. To get from there to here, it was no easy task.”
The scene was Thursday loud and overcrowded, befitting the sporting world’s best on-going comeback story. As it was when Woods won here for a fifth time in 2019, he still has a way of moving Augusta National to the brink of chaos, as close to the line as is allowed by the stuffed green jackets here. Massive crowds blanketed every curve and corner of the course he passed. Walking is the hard part for Woods. Walking and trying to see anything Woods does is almost as daunting a challenge for those with coveted Masters patrons badges.
If warm-ups counted, Woods would have finished this day tragically over par. Reporting to the course early Monday, he labeled his limbering up session as “awful.” But, he added, “I went back to what my dad always said: ‘Did you accomplish your task in the warm-up? It’s a warm- up. Did you warm-up?’ Yes, I did. Now go play. That’s exactly what I did, I went and played.’
Playing partners Joaquin Niemann and Louis Oosthuizen preceding him to the first tee box, Woods arrived at his Thursday, amid a great uproar, like a reigning champ into the ring.
The misty hangover from a night of rain was clearing, the sun casting an approving glow upon Woods first competitive tee shot since the misplaced Masters of November 2020.
While he came in wearing a bold statement – check out the day-glow fuchsia mock turtleneck – he began his round in rather conservative fashion, playing to the all the smart angles and the below-the-hole savvy that he has acquired over 90 previous Masters rounds.
A 10-foot par-saving putt on No. 1 put him on the track to five straight pars to begin the round. Ah, but when he dropped his tee shot to the par-3 sixth to two feet from the pin, it put a full charge into his massive audience. He was greeted everywhere here as returning royalty, but never louder than during his stroll past the bank of azalea and dogwood leading to the sixth green.
An inventory of his greatest hits:
That tee shot on No. 6.
A classic iron into the par-5 13th, that gave him designs on an eagle but resulted in a tap-in birdie.
A mighty slash out of the pinestraw that confirmed he has no concern over his damaged leg handling the torque of such trouble shots.
Par-saving putts of 10 feet on Nos. 1 and 9.
A 29-foot birdie putt on No. 16, par saving putts of 10 feet on No. 1 and No. 9, the 29-foot birdie putt on No. 16.
Lest we forget, he reminded his public Thursday, “I can swing a golf club.”
“The walking’s not easy,” he added. “As I said with all the hard work, my leg, it’s going to be difficult for the rest of my life. That’s just the way it is, but I’m able to do it.”
As far as the misses, Woods pointed to one above all others, a blundering bogey on the par-5 eighth hole, lowlighted by a careless pitch and a missed 7-footer. “Lack of concentration on the first one. Second one, lack of commitment. Then a blocked putt. So just three bad shots in a row,” he said.
Woods seldom has been a quick starter here. In fact, out of 24 opening rounds here, he’s had only eight lower than Thursday’s 71. His career opening round average here is 72. Under the circumstances, that only makes this round all the more remarkable.
Woods did not try to hide the physical toil involved in this day.
“I am as sore as I expected to feel,” he said. “But it was amazing, like I was telling the team all week, come game time, it will be a different deal. My adrenaline will kick in. I’ll get into my own little world, and I’ll get after it. It’s about the training that we’ve done to have the stamina to go.
“I’m going to be sore, yes. That’s just the way it is. But the training cycles that we’ve had to make sure that I have the stamina to keep going – and this is only one round. We’ve got three more to go. There’s a long way to go and a lot of shots to be played.”
So, break out the duct tape, the baling wire, the WD-40 Thursday night. Whatever it takes to keep this captivating comeback on track.
