Tiger Woods took a drop after hitting a ball into the water on the 12th hole. He finished his first round with one-over 73. Credit Jamie Squire/Getty Images
AUGUSTA, Ga. — An ex-Stanford standout carded a one-under 71 at the Masters on Thursday and described his round as “a minor miracle.†It was Tom Watson, not another former Cardinal, Tiger Woods, whose opening-round 73 was a few sleights of hand short of magical.
After taking a two-month break to cement his short game, Woods chipped and pitched beautifully only to see his driving sprout leaks. Completing his first competitive round in 69 days, Woods missed three of his first seven fairways on Augusta National Golf Club’s front nine. He found the first fairway — but with his shot off the ninth tee box. It was that kind of afternoon for Woods, who finished with 11 greens in regulation.
Woods said the slow greens were his bugaboo, but he took 28 putts, three fewer than Phil Mickelson, who has also struggled of late and shot a 70.
One of these days, surely, Woods will put it all together. The question is, can he pull it off overnight?
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The Northern Irishman Graeme McDowell made an observation about his own game that was germane to Woods’s situation. After signing for a 71, McDowell said his putting, which is usually shaky at Augusta National, was solid while his driving, normally the strength of his game, was not. When you shore up a weakness, McDowell said, “it’s amazing how something else goes.â€
He added, “That’s just the game of golf, and that’s what keeps us coming back for more.â€
That Woods, 39 years old, would return to the Masters after missing the event in 2014 because of back surgery seemed unlikely when he followed his worst round as a professional — an 82 at the Phoenix Open — with a withdrawal during the first round at the Farmers Insurance Open. Depending on one’s perspective, Woods’s score Thursday could be seen as either nine strokes off the pace set by Jordan Spieth or nine strokes better than Woods’s previous completed round.
“I felt good,†Woods said. “I felt like I hit the ball well enough to shoot three under par.â€
His short game was a definite high point.
“It’s my strength again,†Woods said. “That’s why I’ve busted my butt. That’s why I took time off. That’s why I hit thousands and thousands of shots to make sure that it’s back to being my strength.â€
Woods was not the only player in the 97-man field to score a 73 after a protracted layoff. Steve Stricker, who had been sidelined since the P.G.A. Championship last August because of a back injury that required surgery, did not strike his irons particularly well in his round of one over. He cut himself some slack because he knew he could not realistically expect his game to be buffed and polished.
“I really had nothing to lose,†Stricker said.
Stricker conceded that Woods probably did not have the same luxury. “He’s got the whole golfing world looking down on him and seeing what he’s going to do and how he’s going to chip and how he’s going to hit it and what his swing looks like,†Stricker said. “It’s unbelievable. He’s got a lot more scrutiny. Everything is critiqued.â€
Woods won the first of his four green jackets in 1997. At 21, he was the same age as Spieth, who flirted with the course record of 63 before settling for a pace-setting 64. Spieth has the versatility and the verve that call to mind a young Woods. He is three strokes ahead of his nearest challengers and nine shots clear of Woods, who is not ready to concede a Spieth coronation.
“I’m still in it,†he said. “I’m only nine back. And we have a long way to go. And we don’t know what the Masters is going to do, what they’re going to do with the greens or the golf course.†He smiled. “You know how they like to change things every now and then.†Â
Woods has had worse starts here on the way to victory. In 2005, he opened with a 74 and beat Chris DiMarco in a playoff. Ten years later, the difference is that Spieth is not the outlier but part of a pack of terrific 20-somethings. To get to Spieth, Woods will have to vault a sizable group that includes Jason Day (67), Russell Henley (68), Patrick Reed (70) and the world No. 1, Rory McIlroy (71). Â
At the par-4 18th, the greenside announcer was reciting Woods’s list of achievements — his 14 major titles, broken down by event, and his 79 PGA Tour victories — when the approach shot of Woods’s playing companion, Jamie Donaldson, caused him to stop in midsentence and duck. Donaldson’s ball came to rest amid the spectators a few feet away, and the announcer calmly picked up where he had left off.
If only it were that easy for Woods to pick up where he left off in 2013, when he collected five victories. His play Thursday was his first hopeful step in that direction since he put together rounds of 68, 71 and 72 at the World Golf Championships event in Ohio last August. The next day, he withdrew during his round after tweaking his back.
Woods says his goal is to win this week, but if he can string together four solid rounds, that will be no small victory.
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Tiger Woods's Driving, Usually a Strength, Deserts Him - New York Times
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