Augusta, Ga. – Mere mortal, but in pursuit of a superhuman feat of tracking down a fifth Masters title, Tiger Woods made his return to golf Thursday afternoon by shooting his best first round in 16 tries at Augusta National.
Woods’ round of 4-under-68 included two eagles. As good as that was after a self-imposed, five-month layoff on the heels of his much-publicized sex scandal, it wasn’t better than the day Seattle’s Fred Couples had.
Couples, who won his green jacket at Augusta in 1992, is the leader going into today’s second round after shooting 6-under 66.
“I’m not surprised, but I’m thrilled,” said Couples following his career-low round at Augusta National. “I thought I could come here and play well, because I have been playing well.”
The story of the day – maybe year, for that matter – was Woods, who had not played competitively in 144 days.
People packed 20-deep around the tee box to witness Woods’ first swing of 2010, which was a 3-wood he cut just inside the right bunker, landing in the first fairway.
“It felt normal,” Woods said. “Try to hit a little fade off the first tee, try to take something off of it and make sure I got it in play. That was about it. From there, I just went about my business.”
Woods showed that his business remains golf. He eagled both the par-5 eighth and 15th holes, and hit his tee shot close on the par-3 12th.
The fans clapped.
A few roared, “Tiger.” But the perpetual buzz surrounding him had given way to a more curious, subdued reaction.
On rare occasion the reaction was negative. One patron, standing near the fairway of the sixth hole as Woods approached, asked his buddy if it was OK to boo the world’s No. 1 player.
When told it was acceptable, he did just that.
Early in Woods’ round, an airplane circled overhead towing a banner that read, “Tiger … Did You Mean Booty-ism” – an obvious reference to the star’s marital transgressions, which Woods later said would be remedied by a return to Buddhist meditation.
Asked about the banner behind the plane, Woods said he didn’t notice it.
To any question asked about the gallery’s reaction to him, Woods said the reception he received throughout his round was “incredible.”
“I said thank you all the way. I was saying thank you all day. People were just incredible all day,” he said. “It was unbelievable. I mean, all day. People, I haven’t heard them cheer this loud in all my years here.”
Those weren’t the only cheers of the day.
The fans also roared their approval for the performance of another T.W. – Tom Watson.
The Masters winner in 1977 and 1981 and now at 60 the oldest player in the tournament, Watson shot a round of 67 that left him tied for second with Lee Westwood, Phil Mickelson, PGA champion Y.E. Yang and K.J. Choi.
Watson had two birdies in three holes to put his name on the leaderboard and bring back memories of his magical run at Turnberry last summer when he missed an eight-foot putt on last hole of regulation and then lost in a playoff at the British Open.
Watson didn’t fade, never made a bogey and wound up matching his best score at Augusta.
Walking off the 18th green, Watson easily received the day’s rowdiest ovation. The reception he got following his television interview just outside the scoring hut was a close second.
“Kind of had visions of the old Tom Watson,” he said, “the way I got the ball up-and-down there.”
Joining Woods at 68 were Ricky Barnes, Anthony Kim, Ian Poulter and Nick Watney.
The leader, Couples, last held the overnight lead by himself at the Masters in 1998.
Back then, Couples was 38. He’s now 50. Just eight months ago as the U.S. Presidents Cup captain, he wasn’t sure how much golf he’d play again – on the PGA Tour or Champions Tour.
But in 2010, after losing to Watson in the Champions Tour season-opener in Hawaii, Couples has reeled off three consecutive wins on the 50-and-over circuit.
On Thursday, he opened with back-to-back birdies to go 2-under. He birdied all the par-5 holes on short putts. And he birdied two-thirds of the difficult “Amen Corner” – Nos. 12 and 13.
When he rolled in a 10-footer on the par-4 17th, he took the lead outright.
“You’re always nervous, because … no matter what age you are, you want to do well,” Couples said. “I felt like today was just one of those rounds where maybe it was good that the wind was blowing when I was playing, because I wasn’t expecting too much, to be honest with you. And once I got going, I just kept making putts and ended up 6-under.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
Todd Milles: 253-597-8442
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