AUGUSTA, Ga. -- Tiger Woods walked to the first tee of the 86th Masters, greeted by thousands and thousands of patrons welcoming him back for his first competitive round of golf since he walked off Augusta National Golf Club following the 2020 tournament.
Almost 14 months after a single-car crash so severe that doctors considered amputating his right leg, Woods made his return. There were solid shots, evidence of rust, a few expletives, and one or two moments of concern about those injuries on a clear, windy day.
By the time he was done, he posted 1-under 71, putting himself in good position after the first round. Here's how it all went down.
The arrival
Woods arrives on the putting green a little after 10 a.m., about an hour before his scheduled tee time.
It's time for another chapter. #themasters pic.twitter.com/DMS3Jyv2Yj
— The Masters (@TheMasters) April 7, 2022
No. 1: Par 4, 445 yards
Surrounded by thousands of patrons on the first tee, Woods clearly didn't like his opening tee shot, slumping his shoulders and muttering to himself as his driver went wide right and short of the fairway bunker. Left with 175 yards after a modest 264-yard tee ball, he spun his approach back off the front edge. A so-so pitch shot left a 10-footer up the hill to save par, which he rolled right in the middle. It was a big par for Woods to start considering he is 16 over in his career on No. 1.
Tiger Woods begins his 24th Masters with a par on the first. #themasters pic.twitter.com/gTva7ZznsP
— The Masters (@TheMasters) April 7, 2022
Score: Par
Total: Even
No. 2: Par 5, 575 yards
When once he overpowered Augusta National, this version of Woods has to think, strategize his way around the place. No cutting corners or carrying bunkers. A young Tiger reaching for a 3-wood on the second tee? Never. Now? Sure. A well-positioned 3-wood off the tee and another on the layup left him in a good spot. Another so-so pitch, this time from 45 yards, left an uphill 16-footer. This time, he didn't convert, as his birdie attempt slipped by on the low side.
Score: Par
Total: Even
No. 3: Par 4, 350 yards
Woods remained conservative with his tee shot at the third, opting for an iron at the short par 4. For the third consecutive hole, he left his approach shot short. This one settled on the front edge of the green. He was annoyed by how short he left the birdie putt and walked away with a third straight par.
Score: Par
Total: Even
No. 4: Par 3: 240 yards
A theme emerged: Woods leaving approach shots short. At the daunting par 3, Woods came up short again with his tee shot. He cozied up his 40-footer and kept the par train rolling.
Score: Par
Total: Even
No. 5: Par 4, 495 yards
Woods started walking after his birdie putt at the fifth hole, which has long been his nemesis. He's almost never wrong. He knows when he made one. He was wrong this time. Woods' 15-footer, which he was sure was in the center, started to slide and caught the lip. He settled for par. Considering that in 2019, when he won his fifth green jacket, Woods bogeyed the fifth all four days, par isn't a bad score. Well, except when you think you made the 15-footer for birdie.
Score: Par
Total: Even
No. 6: Par 3, 180 yards
The club twirl was the first hint. That Woods stared it down the entire way there was the next. A perfect 6-iron from Woods was one little bounce forward from a hole-in-one. Imagine the noise that would have echoed through the dogwood pines if that had happened? A kick-in 2-footer for birdie put Woods in red numbers for the first time at the 2022 Masters.
Tiger reaches red numbers in the 86th Masters. #themasters pic.twitter.com/yhaEU4i32T
— The Masters (@TheMasters) April 7, 2022
Score: Birdie
Total: 1 under
No. 7: Par 4, 450 yards
The first true test this week of that surgically repaired right leg came after his tee shot went right. The ball nestled into the pine needles beneath a tree. After two days in which there were significant downpours in Augusta, standing on wet pine needles wasn't exactly what he wanted. But before the week started, Woods stressed he was not even a little worried about footing and slipping and the impact of any of that on a leg that required multiple operations following his February 2021 car crash. Woods hit a blistering low cut under the tree, leaving it short of the front bunker. From there, he flipped a perfect wedge to save par. Even more importantly, he walked away from that tree and those pine needles with no issues.
Score: Par
Total: 1 under
No. 8: Par 5, 570 yards
Woods got to his first this-felt-like-hard-work hole of the day. After a perfect drive and a solid layup, he hit a messy, messy chip. Facing a 50-yard chip, which should have set up another birdie look, Woods stubbed it, leaving it 15 yards short of the green. From there, he hit another poor pitch and missed a 9-footer. At Augusta National, bogeys happen. That one, though, was hard to swallow given where he was after two shots. When Woods walked off the eighth, 40 players had played the hole; he was one of only three to make bogey or worse.
Score: Bogey
Total: Even
No. 9: Par 4, 460 yards
With Woods still angry about a bad bogey at the eighth, things got worse on the tee at the ninth, things got worse on the tee at the ninth. Woods hit a pull hook into the trees on the left. But that wasn't the biggest problem. He grabbed his back and grimaced after the swing. His approach shot, again from pine needles and under a tree, caught a limb and came up short. He uttered a four-letter word as he walked toward the green. Despite yet another iffy chip, Woods rolled the downhill 8-footer in the middle for a big par save to go out in even-par 36 over his first nine holes.
Tiger Woods finished his first nine with one birdie and one bogey for an even par 36. He had 13 putts and was 4 of 5 scrambling. pic.twitter.com/cfXM27zHvn
— ESPN Stats & Info (@ESPNStatsInfo) April 7, 2022
Score: Par
Total: Even
No. 10: Par 4, 495 yards
If there is one shot Woods won't have to practice when his round ends, it's a chip shot from in front of the green. He had that shot again when his approach to the 10th hit the front and rolled back. He walked down the fairway after it spun back with his arms in the air muttering a few words -- you can guess which ones, if you'd like. But again, Woods was bailed out of a bad chip by a good putt, rolling in a slick 5-footer down the hill.
Score: Par
Total: Even
No. 11: Par 4, 520 yards
Before the Masters began, players made it clear that the changes to No. 11 were going to make the hole hard. After Woods hit a 283-yard drive, he still had a whopping 242 to the green. He striped his approach -- and it was still short. "I couldn't hit it any better," he said to caddie Joe LaCava. He handed LaCava the club and just laughed. From in front of the green -- again -- Woods skirted a little 6-iron up to 4 feet to save his par.
Score: Par
Total: Even
No. 12: Par 3, 155 yards
Woods went flag hunting during his Wednesday practice round. He wasn't messing around with going at the flag when the stakes were real. Woods safely found the green - unlike playing partner Oosthuizen - and converted a simple two-putt. And that was, without question, his game plan when he walked to the tee in the first place.
All rise at Amen Corner. #themasters pic.twitter.com/pk4R5ATi0S
— The Masters (@TheMasters) April 7, 2022
Score: Par
Total: Even
No. 13: Par 5, 510 yards
After failing to take advantage of the first two par 5s at Augusta National, Woods got dialed in at the 13th. A perfect drive and solid ball-above-his-feet approach left him with a 24-foot look for eagle. The first roar for him in a long time as he finished up Thursday's trip around Amen Corner? Not quite. He left the putt a little short, but with an easy tap-in to move back under par.
Two strokes off the lead. Tiger is in chase. #themasters pic.twitter.com/Fc2Olaflbh
— The Masters (@TheMasters) April 7, 2022
Score: Birdie
Total: 1 under
No. 14: Par 4, 440 yards
Maybe Woods just needed to test that right leg. After a duck-hook off the tee, Woods found himself under a tree and on top of pine needles yet again. Coming off a birdie and with momentum, Woods made the decision it was a moment worth taking a risk. He took a huge swing, recoiling on the follow-through and moving both feet. It was, by far, the biggest swing he took all day. The shot, from 198 yards, settled just over the back edge. Sure, he didn't scramble and save par. But the bigger part was that the leg passed a big, big test.
The return of the recoil 😯🐅pic.twitter.com/7VEckbl0Vu
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) April 7, 2022
Score: Bogey
Total: Even
No. 15: Par 5, 550 yards
Another par 5 that required way more work than Woods would have liked. After his tee shot went farther left than he wanted, his second shot then farther left than he would have liked and ended up among the patrons. He made his way out with a par, but that's not how he wanted to play the 15th. Aside from the birdie at 13, the par 5s were more of a struggle than he wanted in the first round.
Score: Par
Total: Even
No. 16: Par 3, 170 yards
The first fist pump of the 2022 Masters from Woods came at the 16th. The hard, back-right hole location had only yielded six birdies as Woods stood over a curling left-to-right 40-footer. He read it perfectly and it never left the center of the hole. When it rolled in, with plenty of pace, the first pump came and the roars followed.
A Tiger roar on No. 16. #themasters pic.twitter.com/pylFuFM3PN
— The Masters (@TheMasters) April 7, 2022
Score: Birdie
Total: 1 under
No. 17: Par 4, 440 yards
Woods found the first cut with his drive. He had a long conversation with LaCava about what to do with his second shot. Whatever they talked about, it worked. Woods hit it to 20 feet for another good look at birdie. He made an aggressive stroke, but ran it 4 feet by. He made the comebacker for par to stay at 1 under.
Score: Par
Total: 1 under
No. 18: Par 4, 465 yards
Another yanked drive from Woods. He got a drop out of some casual water, but was so far back because it caught some trees along the way. Woods was forced to lay up short of the 18th green. Then, from 73 yards, he stuck a wedge in close to save a par. As he walked up the hill to the final green, he was greeted with a standing ovation -- for returning to golf and for an opening round under par.
Score: Par
Total: 1-under 71
A strong start for the five-time champion. #themasters pic.twitter.com/4brY0k0O5x
— The Masters (@TheMasters) April 7, 2022