AUGUSTA, Ga. – It was a Thursday that felt like a Sunday. That’s what happens when a five-time Masters champion returns for the first time in 17 months to the sport it’s decimated for the past quarter century.
Between his last round of competitive golf at the November 2020 Masters and that first round of the 2022 Masters, Woods had another back surgery and nearly lost his leg. So what did he do after a year and a half break from professional golf at the highest level? He went out and shot a 1-under-71 to naturally beat the field average by three.
Given Woods’ stature (best player of all time), what he’s accomplished at Augusta National (five green jackets, no missed cuts in 21 tries as a pro), and the adversity he’s faced (“stuff…I wish that nobody” ), it’s a 71 that will go down as one of the most notable rounds in Masters history.
On paper it’s a good result in a great tournament that could lead to something even better later in the week. Paper is contextless, however, and contextualizing a man who almost needed a prosthetic leg to ever walk again is required.
From the first tee it felt like living history. Thousands of visitors lined the first hole at Augusta National to see the golfer, ranked 973 in the world, make his first official swing in over 500 days. Tiger delivered early with a long walk-in-par putt that revved up the rolling gallery and seemed to energize someone who certainly didn’t need much more adrenaline.
After five straight pars early in his round, Tiger almost stared an ace down the hole at No. 6 and went into the red for the first time in 100 weeks. A sloppy bogey on the par-5 8 pushed him back to equalize as he completed his first nine and marched towards a nine-hole stretch at the back of Augusta that has made him as famous as he has made it.
Three more pars to start this side before an easy birdie at #13 and a bogey at #14 that came as a result of a pulled drive. Tiger hit just nine fairways that day, and his driver was often more useful to him as a running tool than as a tool to hammer his ball at Augusta National.
Tiger saved a ridiculous par on the 15th par 5 after his first two shots and more were left. On the par-3 16th, he hit a nice back right shelf shot that was better than it probably looked on ShotLink. As he walked to the 16th green, one by one the guests lining that hole stood up – as if making the wave from the tee to the green – to applaud him. Not because of the shot he’d just taken, but because they knew how absurd it was that he’d even fired a shot from a hospital bed a little over a year away.
“If you had seen what my leg looked like where it is now, the pictures – some of the guys know. They saw the pictures and they came to the house and they saw it,” Woods said after his round. “Seeing where I’ve been, seeing – getting from there to here wasn’t an easy task.”
Tiger gave the gallery what they wanted to see with what might have been the purest putt he’d hit all day, one he underlined with a right pump for birdie. It sounded like he had just taken the lead on a Saturday afternoon. An easy par and a miraculous save later, and Woods scored a 71 that won’t get second looks in his later annals, but still left your jaw on the floor if you lived to see it happen.
Woods looked tired as he finished his round, which is exactly what you’d expect from a man whose body appears to be twice his birth certificate when he attends to a trip to a mountainous old nursery. His game also looked like he hadn’t held a pencil or scorecard since Thanksgiving 2020.
There were timid, almost bold shots with the big clubs he had to cover around and on the greens with a pair of hands that have held every major golf trophy ever made.
It was a 71 that a less experienced, boisterous player would have turned into a 75.
“Playing this golf course and doing what I did today to … hit the shots in the right places – I know where to hit a lot of these pins and I miss the right spots and give myself good ones angle,” Woods said. “I was doing that all day and I was able to make a couple of putts and ended up in the red like I am doing now.”
Tiger was three behind the clubhouse and will be four behind in Round 2. He probably won’t win that golf tournament because the muffled jerk in his gait on Thursday afternoon could turn into a full limp by the end of the week. He’s also so dodgy off the tee that even Seve Ballesteros’ short game in his prime couldn’t shoulder that burden for 72 holes.
However, with his spectacular performance on Thursday, Woods proved two things.
He can make the cut and work his way into competition at this tournament. Woods beat the man he brought to Augusta National last week, Justin Thomas, by five shots Thursday after JT spent the first three months of the year looking like the best ball forward in the world. Tiger can and will hit enough of this field through 36 holes to give an iota of hope for Saturday morning.
He also proved something more significant, which he seems to have proven every year since winning that tournament 25 years ago. Woods struggled back from a hospital bed into a wheelchair, lay on his back in his palatial backyard and listened to the birds chirp to block the same creatures on Thursday as he discharged every ounce of intellect, stubbornness and dexterity he possessed all that’s left is the body.
“[Walking the course] hasn’t gotten any easier, let’s put it that way,” Woods said. “I can swing a golf club. Walking is not easy and it is difficult. Like I said, with all the hard work, my leg, it’s going to be difficult for the rest of my life. That’s just the way it is, but I can do it. I’m very lucky to have this opportunity to play, and not just play in the Masters and have that kind of reception. I mean, the place was electric.”
In executing this masterful feat, Tiger reminded us that never before in sport has there been a man’s will to be so great at something. His desire for achievement and competition is twice that of men half his age who have not achieved 10% as much.
Watching Woods hide an injury that must be destroying him inside and posting a 71 that would have felt like a miracle just a month ago is watching someone triumph over all outside forces screaming at him that he’s had enough did .
It certainly would have been easier for Woods to sit at home with his family to watch this Masters and write embarrassing GIFs to JT after his abysmal 76 on Thursday.
When he surfaced, he overcame many things, but also chose the more difficult path. Tiger chose the path that brought more suffering and more frustration and more pain because he is obsessed with the game and bending it to his will.
Will Thursday’s 71 tell this story in 50 years? It’s impossible to tell. But if you witnessed or watched Woods’ round, you will remember that it was larger than the day and week. it was (another) performance of his that you just never forget.
Catch the Masters 2022 live through Sunday master live As we follow the world’s best golfers through Augusta National with Featured Groups, check in at the famous Amen Corner and see leaders at holes 15 and 16. Watch live on CBSSports.com, the CBS Sports App and Paramount+.