Tiger Woods dealt with blustery winds on Thursday afternoon at The Masters but is in at one-under-par after completing 13 holes.
The five-time Masters champion and winner of 15 Major titles didn’t tee off until 3.54pm local time due to a two-and-a-half-hour delay after thunderstorms overnight. It means he knew he wouldn’t play all 18, eventually finishing 13, but those 13 holes were very promising.
Woods started out with a birdie on the 1st after piping a drive and sticking an iron shot in close before going on to drop a shot at the long par 3 4th. He remained at level par until the par 5 8th, which he found in two blows and two-putted to get under par.
His shot of the day came at 11, where he found himself short, right of the green needing to find some magic to get it up-and-down. And magic did he find.
The American great opened up his lob wedge, flopped it up to the front pin and hit it to perfection. It landed just short of the hole and immediately put the brakes on for the easiest of pars.
Watch Woods’ stunning chip on the 11th:
Another crafty par save followed on the par 3 12th, where his ball kicked off the back of the green into the pine straw. He then finished his day with a 5 on the 13th after finding the trees down the right side of the famous par 5.
“The wind was all over the place,” Woods 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 nice to finish up 13. 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.”
Woods’ fused ankle is no longer bothering him but it’s his back that takes the strain, although he was moving very well on Thursday.
He has a long day ahead of him on Friday, where he’ll look to break the Masters record for most consecutive cuts made. He equalled Fred Couples’ record of 23 last year and by the looks of it, he’ll be surpassing him and reaching 24 on Friday afternoon.
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