Tiger Woods shot a cool one-under par through 13 holes at the Masters when Thursday's opening round action at Augusta National was called for darkness.

Tiger didn't ask much of himself while walking around Augusta's hilly terrain. The 15-time major champion played methodical, relatively stress-free golf.

He started his 26th Masters opening round — his first in Sun Day Red — with a beautiful drive down the fairway. His second shot plopped eight feet of the hole, setting up his first of two birdies.

He birdied No. 8, bogeyed No. 4, and parred all three stops of Amen Corner. The 48-year-old was hitting 320+ yard bombs (280 on average) and registering nearly 180 m.p.h. ball speeds.

If the hands were rusty, you wouldn't know it. He navigated increasingly windy conditions without too much trouble and showed off signature creativity on approaches and around the greens, highlighted by sweet chip shots on the 10th and 11th.

“The wind was all over the place,” he said. “It was one of the most tricky days that I’ve ever been a part of. It was hard to get a beat not only on what direction it was going, but the intensity, and it kept switching all over the place, and then you had to — the timing was affecting putts on the greens. It was a very difficult day.”

It was far from perfect — he hit seven of 13 greens in regulation — but all things considered, it felt like a refreshingly vintage showing from the Big Cat. He seemed in control of his golf game. He was composed as he made tricky par saves look easy (as if he's played Augusta once or twice).

Tiger, Max Homa (-4), and Jason Day (E) teed off at 3:54 p.m. ET after the tournament's start was delayed by about two-and-a-half hours in the morning due to inclement weather.

The group finished No. 13 as the buzzer sounded for the day, around 8 p.m. They'll complete Nos. 14 through 18, beginning at 8 a.m. Their second round is scheduled for 10:18 a.m.

“It was nice to finish up 13,” said Tiger. “We’re going to warm up and just kind of head down there and start our round, and I think the flow would be pretty much almost like between 20 and 30 minutes in between rounds, so it’ll be a natural flow from the finish of the first round and continuation of the second.”

Tiger is gunning for his record 24th consecutive made cut at Augusta.

“I think it's consistency, it's longevity, and it's an understanding of how to play this golf course,” the five-time Masters champ said about his success at Augusta. “That's one of the reasons why you see players that are in their 50s and 60s make cuts here, or it's players in their late 40s have runs at winning the event, just the understanding of how to play it.”

Woods last completed a PGA Tour event in February 2023. He made the cut at the 2023 Masters but withdrew before the weekend due to plantar fasciitis. He underwent ankle fusion surgery shortly. His last official victory came at Augusta in 2019.

“If everything comes together, I think I can get one more,” Tiger said at his pre-tournament press conference.

The game is there. The course knowledge is grandfathered in. The question, as always, will be whether his body can hold up for 23 rounds on Friday, without ample recovery time.

“The body is okay,” he said post-round. “We've got some work to do yet tonight.”

Meanwhile, 2020 U.S. Open champion Bryson DeChambeau leads the Masters field after shooting a sterling 7-under 66. World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler (-6) is hot on his tail.

Rory McIlroy carded one-under 71 to kick off his 10th crack at the career Grand Slam. Three-time Masters winner Phil Mickelson and defending champion Jon Rahm shot 73s.

Friday's forecast calls for 72-degree, sunny weather but also 20-30 mph winds that are expected to get gustier as the day goes on.