His day was not flawless by any means: he carelessly dropped a stroke at the long eighth, a hole ripe for plunder by his rivals, and his language threatened to fall foul of Augusta’s etiquette police. “Ah, f— off,” he muttered, too loudly with microphones close by, as he watched his ball slither off the front of the ninth green.
Woods had delayed any decision on his involvement as long as possible, concerned that his rebuilt leg might not hold out. But as the storms parted to reveal pristine skies over Augusta, he seemed back in his element, arrowing his approach to the fifth – a hole that, even en route to his miraculous fifth green jacket in 2019, he bogeyed all four days – to four feet. He was engaging company, too: where once he would be so cocooned in his own bubble that he resisted talking to any playing partners, he found time for a long conversation with Joaquin Niemann as they strode up the third fairway. To watch them together was to marvel at the sweep of Woods’ history at this place. When he shocked the world to win by 12 in 1997, the Chilean had not even been born.
As the full horror of Woods’ injuries became apparent last year, he acknowledged that the summit of ambitions was to be an occasional golfer again. This was, by any stretch, an occasion worthy of the man, a stage on which every shot sent the vast galleries following him into raptures. Allied to the pure joy of seeing Woods in the flesh once more was a tangible relief that he did not embarrass himself. Despite the brilliance of his career, he has not been above humiliating scores at times, not least when he recorded rounds of 85 and 82 in 2015 amid bouts of the chipping yips. This was far from those nadirs, with his composure under stress astonishing in light of his harrowing physical ordeal.
If Woods is to entertain any hope of winning, which he insists is a legitimate aim, he will need to iron out his waywardness off the tee. At the 18th, he caught his drive horribly off the heel, the ball travelling all of 190 yards. There are only so many detours into the pine straw he can afford before his challenge starts to falter. For now, his disciples are simply ecstatic to see him close to the top of the leaderboard, against all odds. When he marched up to the final green, his leg showing little sign of bothering him, spectators standing 20-deep applauded as if this were his final round, not his first.
His is a second coming of truly stunning implausibility. But the more Woods impresses with his resilience, the more the game’s grandees agree that a 16th major is not out of the question. “Tiger’s injuries were very serious, but Ben Hogan had a crushed pelvis and came back and won majors,” said Gary Player. “There’s no reason why Tiger shouldn’t do so, as long as he does something absolutely imperative, and that’s to believe he can do it.” On this evidence, few could doubt that he does. “I felt good,” he grinned. This was a watershed day for Woods’ assessment of his own capabilities. It was also an examination that, to universal delight, he passed.
