A "sore" Tiger Woods limped and hobbled his way to a two-over-par 74 on the first day of The Masters, playing spectator for most parts to a man 22 years his junior – the dazzling Norwegian, Viktor Hovland.
In fairness to the great Woods, a winner here on five occasions, he did grind out a respectable score when clearly his body continues to trouble him, making back-to-back birdies on 15 and 16, much to the delight of his ever-faithful following.
"I didn't have very good speed early," a frustrated Woods said afterwards. "I had two three-putts, and consequently I'm a couple over par. I didn't hit my irons close enough today."
Woods remains upbeat that he can force his way back into contention, however, and sees the threat of bad weather at Augusta as a positive. "Most of the guys are going low today. This was the day to do it," he added. "Hopefully tomorrow I'll be a little bit better, a little bit sharper, and kind of inch my way through it.
"This is going to be an interesting finish to the tournament with the weather coming in. If I can just kind of hang in there, maybe kind of inch my way back, hopefully it will be positive towards the end."
Whether his body will allow him the chance to go lower on Friday and ensure that he at least has a chance to equal Jack Nicklaus ‘ haul of six Green Jackets on Sunday remains to be seen.
Asked whether there are shots where the pain is more focused, Woods instantly replied "it's constant", which suggests that he faces another day of playing through the pain barrier.
His body language on the back nine would have had many fearing a score in the late seventies. On 14, he pulled his drive into the pines before slowly trudging up the fairway.
At this point, Hovland was all energy, seven-under for his round, although facing a horrid chip from the side of the green under the pines.
When his delicate third pitched short of the putting surface and rolled out to tap in distance, there were gasps from the crowd. Meanwhile, at four-under, the well-fancied Xander Schauffele was going about his business in rather nice style. Woods was just making up the numbers.
But then the 15-time Major champion sprung to life – or at least took a more spritely step forward. A tidy up-and-down of his own on 14 drew encouragement from a crowd that was starting to sound sympathetic.
At three-over, Woods clearly needed to take advantage of the par-5 15th. Another three-putt bogey would not have come as a surprise after his wedge went left and his shoulders started to sag. This is Woods, though, and he has a habit of pulling a rabbit out the hat when the moment requires it.
In went a long, snaking birdie putt and up went the roars, which continued as he made his way to the 16th tee. Those cheers went up a notch when he fired a laser at the flag, and it was louder still when he rolled in the birdie putt minutes later.
Two in a row for Tiger Woods. #themasters pic.twitter.com/RYFcHxiSrOApril 6, 2023
So it was a shame when his round petered out, although he can count himself unlucky for making a bogey on 18 after his tee shot came to rest in an awkward position a couple of feet from the fairway bunker.
It’s often said that you can never write Woods off. However, he’s probably going to need an ice bath and one very good physio session to keep the dream of another Masters title alive.
