Tiger Woods at Masters 2015: Leaderboard Score, Twitter Reaction from Thursday
During Thursday's action at the 2015 Masters, there were flashes of vintage Tiger Woods in his first competitive round since early February.
An array of wild full shots and evident rust factored into Woods' roller-coaster round, but his short game and a couple of spectacular recoveries helped him stay in the tournament. Woods posted a one-over 73, which trails leader Jordan Spieth by nine strokes.
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Check out Woods' scorecard, one that looks steadier and less eventful on the surface than it actually was:
| Par | 4 | 5 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 36 | |
| Score | 5 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 37 | |
| Total | +1 | E | E | +1 | +1 | +1 | +1 | E | +1 | +1 | |
| Par | 4 | 4 | 3 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 36 | 72 |
| Score | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 4 | 4 | 36 | 73 |
| Total | +1 | +1 | +2 | +1 | +1 | +1 | +1 | +1 | +1 | +1 | +1 |
Jason Sobel of ESPN.com and the Golf Channel had Woods' thoughts on his round:
While some may dismiss Woods' play from Thursday as erratic and somewhat discouraging, he displayed two defining characteristics that made him so dominant in the past.
First, he scored rather well considering his lengthy hiatus and absence of anything near his best golf, and he capitalized on most of the par fives. Woods birdied the first three such holes before settling for par on the 15th. The first one at No. 2 helped Woods bounce back from a three-putt bogey on the opening par four.
ESPN's Skip Bayless described how the promising elements of Woods' game came together to help him card a four on the eighth:
Woods reached critical mass for anger on No. 9, when he drove the ball into the first fairway and blocked his second right into the trees. Adam Sarson of theScore captured footage of Woods' hooked drive:
Ian O'Connor of ESPN provided comments from Joe LaCava, Woods' caddie:
SportsNation had an appropriate record of Woods' reaction:
And yet Woods still managed to escape with a punch shot onto the green, two-putting from long distance for a bogey to make the turn with a one-over 37.
A wayward tee shot again frustrated Woods en route to a par at the 15th, as Amanda Balionis of PGATour.com observed:
One point of concern was how horribly Woods chipped the ball in his previous appearances this calendar year, which didn't bode well for Augusta's treacherous greens. However, none of those struggles were on display in the opening round.
Sobel dismissed the previous criticism Woods took for his unsavory short game:
The par-three 16th saw Woods hit a tidy, knockdown 7-iron to about 20 feet below the hole. His effort to get back to level par fell just short:
Nice drives down Nos. 17 and 18 showed Woods' long game improving down the stretch. He ended the day with a few better swings in terms of tempo and timing, which had to be a huge boon for Woods as he tries to climb the leaderboard from well off the pace.
As Golf Channel's Justin Ray hints, Woods' bid to get back into the hunt may be thwarted by arguably the brightest young star in American golf since Woods himself burst onto the scene:
Even the greatest optimists couldn't expect Woods to vault himself into immediate contention, especially with how deep the Masters field is and how much of a tear Spieth has been on as of late.
Since Spieth is only 21 years old and Woods is a four-time Masters champion, one can't count out Woods just yet. Not with the way the 39-year-old legend was able to conjure at least some old magic and bounce back from the numerous instances of first-round adversity.
Both Woods and Spieth will have earlier tee times on Friday, and the course got harder to score on as the day wore on. The hot finishes by Spieth and Jason Day were deceptive, so it was particularly nice for Woods to stripe some quality shots as he approached the clubhouse.
Distance control and timing are the areas Woods needs to improve on to have a chance at a fifth green jacket. At a most familiar venue and with 18 holes under his belt, all it will take for Woods is some practice through playing between the ropes. Friday will be a big test as to where Woods' game truly is.
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