Tiger Woods Stays Hot with 4-Under 1st Round at 2018 Arnold Palmer Invitational

Tiger Woods remained in fine form Thursday at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, as he fired a four-under 68 in the first round and entered the clubhouse tied for second.

On the heels of a second-place finish at last week's Valspar Championship, Woods carded six birdies and one double bogey at Bay Hill Club and Lodge in Bay Hill, Florida, on Thursday.

Woods is tied with Patrick Reed, and he trails leader Jimmy Walker by just one stroke.

The 42-year-old hasn't won a tournament since 2013, but he is an eight-time winner at the Arnold Palmer Invitational. No other golfer has won it more than twice.

Woods is also in fine position to register two top-10 finishes in a season for the first time in five years.

Tiger began Thursday's round on the back nine, and he wasted no time charging out to the lead with two birdies in his first four holes.

His assault on the course started with a birdie on the par-five 12th, as he looked calm and confident while draining an intermediate-range putt, as seen in the following video courtesy of the PGA Tour:

Woods followed that up with an even longer birdie make on the par-four 13th:

It became clear last week that Tiger had gotten his swagger back, and it was on full display when he birdied the par-five 16th.

As he so often does when he's locked in, Woods walked the ball into the hole while moving to three under:

Tiger's only major miscue of the day came on No. 3, when he made a mess of his tee shot.

Woods' drive was well off the mark, and by the time he recovered, he recorded a double-bogey six that knocked him down the leaderboard.

It didn't take the 14-time major champion long to recover, though. He birdied the next hole and then got the other stroke back with a birdie on the par-five sixth.

Tiger birdied every par-five on the course Thursday, which is something he hadn't done in a round since 2015, per PGA Tour Media:

The putter was Tiger's best friend during the first round, especially on the par-three seventh.

After his tee shot left him 71 feet from the hole, Woods perfectly placed a breaking birdie putt in the middle of the cup to regain the solo lead:

Woods then closed out his round with a pair of pars on No. 8 and No. 9.

His par on the ninth was especially impressive since he recovered from an approach shot that found the bunker and made a tricky putt to close out the round:

As these stats from Golf Channel's Tiger Tracker indicate, Woods had a spectacular day on the greens:

Much like the Valspar Championship, the first round of the Arnold Palmer Invitational felt like a vintage Tiger performance.

PGA Tour golfer Keith Mitchell echoed that sentiment on Twitter:

While Woods isn't in the lead at the moment, his current form makes him the golfer to beat in Bay Hill.

Regardless of whether Tiger's first-round showing results in a win, he is looking more and more like a true threat to be a contender at next month's Masters.