Tiger Woods shot a two-over 74 in his rickety opening round at The Masters. Tiger is vying to win his sixth green jacket in his 25th appearance at Augusta National, though he'll need a steadier performance on Friday to contend into the weekend.
Woods — teeing it up for the second time in 2023 (he played the Genesis Invitational in February) — understands how to navigate Augusta better than anybody, but the hardest walk in golf poses a unique challenge for his permanently compromised right leg. His rustiness was evident, as well.
Tiger made three bogeys over his first seven holes before a much-needed birdie on No. 8 in which he blasted a 3-wood 250 yards and nearly holed out for eagle. He gave that back with a bogey on 11 before finding a bit of a groove on the back-nine. He sank an impressive 27-footer for birdie on No. 15, then dropped his tee shot on No. 16 to within eight feet of the cup.
Tiger capped off his round with an adventurous bogey on 18. His drive rolled near the fairway bunker, forcing him to hit his second shot with his right leg awkwardly planted in the sand. He noticeably winced after hitting a stinger over the green, though he said the shot wasn't as painful as it looked.
“Hopping on the left leg is fine,” Woods said. “If I did it on the other one, not so fine.”
Tiger said the pain in his leg is “constant” and curtly described it as “sore.”
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Overall, Tiger drove the ball effectively and hit 9/13 fairways, but inconsistent putting let him down.
“I didn’t have very good speed early,” he said. “I had two three-putts, and consequently I’m a couple over par. I didn’t hit my irons close enough today. I didn’t give myself very good looks. Need to do a better job of that going forward to hopefully get myself back in this tournament.”
Tiger's playing partners, Viktor Hovland (-7) and Xander Schauffle (-4) fared much better than the 47-year-old as the course played relatively easy on Thursday. Woods acknowledged that he may have missed an opportunity to post a lower score on the 85-degree day before the forecast turns cold and rainy.
“I felt like I drove it good. I just didn’t do the job I need to do to get the ball close. Today was the opportune time to get the ball — get the round under par, and I didn’t do that today. Most of the guys are going low today. This was the day to do it. Hopefully tomorrow I’ll be a little bit better, a little bit sharper, and kind of inch my way through it.”
The Masters has seen only two winners who didn't finish round one inside the top 10.
The 15-time major champion — whose last tour victory came at the Masters in 2019 — has never missed the cut at Augusta. On Tuesday, Woods acknowledged that this could be his final time playing the Masters.
“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.”
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