06 April 2023 , 21:03
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A late back nine fightback saw five-time champion Tiger Woods shoot a two-over-par 74 in his opening round at The Masters at Augusta National.
Woods returned to the famous Georgia course for just his second PGA Tour start of the season, as the golfing great continues to ply a part-time career after sustaining life-changing injuries in a car crash in February 2021. As always, all eyes were on the 82-time PGA Tour champion as he teed it up on day one at Augusta.
Woods kicked off his tournament with Norwegian starlet Viktor Hovland and Olympic champion Xander Schauffele on Thursday, however things did not get off to an ideal start.
Across his opening seven holes the 15-time major champion carded three frustrating bogeys at the third, fifth and seventh. This saw Woods head to the back nine with his back up against the wall, sitting three-over in the early stages.
Things then got even worse for the 2019 champion after he carded his fourth bogey of the round on the par four 11th. Not many know Augusta better than Woods, and the golfing great knew he needed to get his tournament going if he was to make it to the weekend.
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And after a long wait the birdies finally arrived. We had the first famous Tiger fist pump of the day at the par five 15th, as Woods holed a superb long putt to the delight of the Augusta crowd. The cheers did not stop there, as the 15-time major winner went back-to-back at the par three 16th, after rolling another birdie putt.
Tiger Woods endured a tough start at Augusta (Getty Images)A solid par then followed at 17, before his rollercoaster round took one final turn at the last. Woods found the 18th fairway off the tee, but was left with an awkward second shot with his ball hanging over a bunker.
The five-time winner was left having to plant one foot in the sand trap, which happened to be his right - the leg Woods has struggled with since his accident. The 47-year-old went on to fly the shot into another trap in the green-side bunker, as he gingerly limped away after stance gave way in the stand. A bogey would follow to see the American end day one two-over.
Despite the fight back Woods would have had higher expectations both before and during his opening round, with golf journalist Jeff Eisenband claiming the American will have been left 'kicking himself' for not taking advantage of favourable conditions in a week with a troubling weather report.
Seemingly admitting on missing out on a lower score, he said post-round: "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."