70 2GM Friday April 8 2022 | the times
Sport
Tiger Woods didn’t limp his way
through his comeback. Neither did he
float magically back to the top of the
leaderboard. He didn’t drive particular-
ly straight and his touch with his
chipping stroke hasn’t yet come back to
join him.
However, he did look very much a
mirror image of the Tiger Woods of old
because if you were ever so foolish as to
consider that he might not be up to this
task, his fighting spirit was absolutely as
belligerently determined as ever. He
may or may not win here this week, as
he told us he might, but the manner in
which he posted his one-under, first-
round finish was a victory in itself.
There has been many a famous Tiger
Sunday here, but never a Tiger Thurs-
day like this. Even he, an athlete so
loath to compliment his own perform-
ance, described it as a victory. Why?
“If you’d seen how my leg looked,” he
said. “People have no idea how hard
it’s been.”
What does it look like when you
haven’t played tournament golf in 17
months and nearly lost a limb in the
hiatus? Well, it’s a circus, isn’t it? It is
pure pandemonium.
Yet can you really come in and win
the Masters, as he so calmly informed
us he could? The answer remains “may-
be” when yesterday might have finished
on “maybe not”. When he signed for a
round of 71, there were other players
three shots ahead of him, but he is
tucked in nicely behind the leaders with
three laps to run; the perfect position.
On day one of the comeback, his
target was not the rarefied air at the top
of the leaderboard anyway, it was just to
keep the leaders in sight. It was not to
stumble. And here, whenever you
thought he might lose his footing, he
saved himself. His rescue game was
outstanding. What will never fade from
his muscle memory is the ability just to
hang in there.
Physically, only Woods knows how
those 18 holes felt. “I am as sore as I
expected to feel” was how he put it. On
the course, though, he kept largely
hidden the toll that last year’s car crash
had taken. His walk is stiffer, we knew
that. On the practice ground before the
round, he adjusted the leg strapping
beneath his trousers. He stoops uncom-
fortably when reading putts. Yet never
in the course of these 18 holes did his
demeanour suggest that his right leg
was holding him back. “I was telling the
team all week,” he said, “come game
time, it’ll be a different deal, my adrena-
line will kick in, I’ll get into my own lit-
tle world and I’ll get after it.”
He could not have been truer to his
word because just when it seemed that
he was running out of steam, he
unveiled something familiar. On the
14th his drive went loose and left and he
finished with a bogey. Then on the par-
five 15th, rather than go for the green in
With Tiger Woods wearing a retina-
burning fuchsia top while fans formed a
bloated conga line down every fairway,
you could have forgiven Cameron
Smith for being distracted. Add double-
bogey bookends to an otherwise sump-
tuous round and you wondered if the
man with the mullet might have taken
a mallet to his locker. Not a chance. The
Australian was a picture of calm after
setting the pace and credited the star
turn for inspiring him.
Chasing a first major, Smith played
beautifully for the bulk of his round in
the group ahead of Woods. In the mid-
morning murk, Smith walked on to the
practice green and rolled in ten consec-
utive eight-foot putts. He then made
eight birdies, despite not playing since
the Players Championship when he
made ten in his final round. After that
win he took time off to be with his
mother and sister after 2½ years apartSmith keeps an eye on
because of Covid. There was no rust,
though, and if this was not a perfect ten,
he was not about to dwell on his start
and finish. “The stuff in between was
pretty good,” he said.
That was an understatement. Smith,
28, set the clubhouse lead with his four-
under-par round of 68, and, although
he was overhauled by Sunjae Im, he was
content and looking forward to cooking
his tea.
As for Woods, whose scrambling,
defiant round of 71 was a totem for his
resilience and means he is right in the
mix just 14 months on from almost los-
ing his right leg, Smith said: “I actually
found myself just watching him. You
can’t not watch him. He’s unreal. It’s an
inspiration that he’s coming back.”
Just as happy was Danny Willett. If
Woods’ ability to ignore pain shows a
rare, competitive mania, he is not alone
in knowing this can be a hurting busi-
ness.
Six years ago, Danny Willett laughed
and joked his way around the back nine
to win the green jacket as Jordan Spieth
imploded at Golden Bell. After the
Yorkshire puddings that Willett chose
for the Champions Dinner had risen, he
started to sink, all the way down to
world No 462 status. Back, shoulder,Rick Broadbent
Augustaonline
Find out who is leading
after first-found at Augusta
Go to thetimes.co.ukIt wasn’t perfect
but it looked like
the Tiger of old
Sport The Masters
Owen Slot
two, he laid up and finished left in the
trees again.
Done and dusted? What happened,
then, on the 16th — a hole where he has
a certain amount of history — would be
the fuel that would take him to the end
of the round. His drive finished short
and right of the pin. His putt, however,
was a thing of beauty and rolled all the
way in. Oh the roars.
Putting kept Woods in the game. His
driving began right and then started
ducking left. His short chips from the
fringes were the shots where those long
months away from the game were most
exposed. Yet every time he slipped
back, he found a way of stepping for-
ward again.
Never was there any sense of certain-
ty, which only added to the hysteria
which has been plain silly all week —
and that was just on the practice days.
Naturally, the dial was turned up even
higher for the first round when there
was a messianic air around Woods, with
armies of humanity flocking to see him,
from the practice range to the 1st tee,
then up the fairways and beyond. Just
to get a glimpse.
Awaiting him on the tee was the hub-
bub of anticipation. Through the
crowded galleries, barely anyone could
really get so much as a fleeting glance of
him. No matter.
“I hear him,” said one patron as the
din travelled over from the nearby
practice green. “Here we go,” said
another. “Some exciting shit’s going on
round here.” And so it was.
First shot. How much store can you
set against his initial competitive golf
shot in 17 months? That drive strayed
right, short of the sand trap, but suffi-
ciently off target to give him a tricky
approach. Already he was scrambling.
And could he scramble like the Tiger
of yore? That was the first flicker of
old. He may have nearly lost a leg, but
he hasn’t lost his personality. Show
some grit. Dig in. Don’t let it beat you.
He punched a low chip across the
green for his third, stood over an eight-
foot par-putt and holed it. Up and
running.
For two holes only did it seem that his
discipline and concentration slipped.
His worst shot of the day was his third
on the par-five 8th, a 50-yard chip that
he left short. That ended in bogey. He
then slapped his drive on the 9th way
left and had to launch another of those
rescue missions.
Indeed, he had to make saves on the
7th, 9th, 10th and 15th. His most thrill-
ing rescue acts were those from behind
trees and out of the pine needles on the
9th and 14th. And ever the showman, he
saved another for the 18th.
Maybe it is too much to suggest that
what he showed is that he has rescued
his future as a competitive golfer. Yet at
the start, one question was whether
Woods would make the cut. That is not
the issue now. It is like he said: whether
or not he is back to win.Chief Sports Writer,
AugustaQUOTE OF THE DAY
After a heavy rain delay Jack
Nicklaus and Gary Player got the
tournament under way with a new
ceremonial starter. Tom Watson, 72,
joined the illustrious club, replacing
Lee Elder, the first black man to play
at the Masters, who died in
November. Nicklaus, who won six
Green Jackets, said: “Tiger, I’ll be
rooting for you to win No 6, but if
you win, I’m not rooting for seven.”day one at augusta
Joaquín Niemann made a stunning
eagle at the par-four 9th by holing
a wedge from 105 yardsMOMENT OF THE DAY
Shane Lowry so nearly had an early
hole in one at the par-three 4th. He
hit a near-perfect tee shot,
but it crashed into the pin and
ricocheted 30ft back to the front
of the green.
In jest, the 2019 Open champion,
35, slammed his club on the floor,
but made amends in the back
nine with a chip-in eagle at the
par-five 13th.SHOT OF THE DAYSecond-round tee-off times
United States unless stated
*denotes amateur times BST
Second round (key groups)
1.44 J Rose (Eng), T Kanaya (Japan),
G Woodland
1.55 L Westwood (Eng), C Conners
(Can), R Henley
3.12 B Horschel, D Johnson, C Morikawa
3.23 P Cantlay, J Rahm (Sp), W Zalatoris
3.34 X Schauffele, J Spieth, V Hovland
(Nor)
3.45 M Fitzpatrick (Eng), B Koepka,
R McIlroy (N Ire)
5.57 T Gooch, J Kokrak, D Willett (Eng)
6.30 B DeChambeau, C Smith (Aus)
6.41 J Niemann (Chile), L Oosthuizen
(SA), T Woods
6.52 H Matsuyama (Japan), *J Piot,
J Thomas- 0 3 T Finau, S Scheffler, A Scott (Aus)
Hole HolePar 72 Total 71Tiger Woods (US)
Par Birdie
Bogey Dbl bogey or worse101112131415161718Par Score Score4 5 4 3 4 3 4 5 4
4 5 4 3 4 2 4 6 4
4 4 3 4 5 5 2 4 4Par4 4 3 5 4 5 3 4 4
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9First round