Tiger Woods Impresses On Masters Day One With 23 Holes To Play On Friday
Woods played 13 holes in one-under-par on Thursday afternoon before play was called due to darkness
Tiger Woods dealt with blustery winds on Thursday afternoon at The Masters but is in at one-under-par after completing 13 holes.
The five-time Masters champion and winner of 15 Major titles didn't tee off until 3.54pm local time due to a two-and-a-half-hour delay after thunderstorms overnight. It means he knew he wouldn't play all 18, eventually finishing 13, but those 13 holes were very promising.
Woods started out with a birdie on the 1st after piping a drive and sticking an iron shot in close before going on to drop a shot at the long par 3 4th. He remained at level par until the par 5 8th, which he found in two blows and two-putted to get under par.
His shot of the day came at 11, where he found himself short, right of the green needing to find some magic to get it up-and-down. And magic did he find.
The American great opened up his lob wedge, flopped it up to the front pin and hit it to perfection. It landed just short of the hole and immediately put the brakes on for the easiest of pars.
Watch Woods' stunning chip on the 11th:
Is this any good? pic.twitter.com/RZ2WJsNbsRApril 11, 2024
Another crafty par save followed on the par 3 12th, where his ball kicked off the back of the green into the pine straw. He then finished his day with a 5 on the 13th after finding the trees down the right side of the famous par 5.
"The wind was all over the place," Woods said.
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"It was one of the most tricky days that I've ever been a part of. It was hard to get a beat not only on what direction it was going, but the intensity, and it kept switching all over the place, and then you had to - the timing was affecting putts on the greens. It was a very difficult day.
"It was nice to finish up 13. We're going to warm up and just kind of head down there and start our round, and I think the flow would be pretty much almost like between 20 and 30 minutes in between rounds, so it'll be a natural flow from the finish of the first round and continuation of the second."
Woods' fused ankle is no longer bothering him but it's his back that takes the strain, although he was moving very well on Thursday.
He has a long day ahead of him on Friday, where he'll look to break the Masters record for most consecutive cuts made. He equalled Fred Couples' record of 23 last year and by the looks of it, he'll be surpassing him and reaching 24 on Friday afternoon.
"It's there. The body is okay. We've got some work to do yet tonight," he said.
Bryson DeChambeau leads at seven-under after day one, with World No.1 Scottie Scheffler in at six-under after a 66.
The first round will resume on Friday at 7:50 a.m. ET.
Elliott Heath is our News Editor and has been with Golf Monthly since early 2016 after graduating with a degree in Sports Journalism. He manages the Golf Monthly news team as well as our large Facebook, Twitter and Instagram pages. He covered the 2022 Masters from Augusta National as well as five Open Championships on-site including the 150th at St Andrews. His first Open was in 2017 at Royal Birkdale, when he walked inside the ropes with Jordan Spieth during the Texan's memorable Claret Jug triumph. He has played 35 of our Top 100 golf courses, with his favourites being both Sunningdales, Woodhall Spa, Western Gailes, Old Head and Turnberry. He has been obsessed with the sport since the age of 8 and currently plays off of a six handicap. His golfing highlights are making albatross on the 9th hole on the Hotchkin Course at Woodhall Spa, shooting an under-par round, playing in the Aramco Team Series on the Ladies European Tour and making his one and only hole-in-one at the age of 15 - a long time ago now!
Elliott is currently playing:
Driver: Titleist TSR4
3 wood: Titleist TSi2
Hybrids: Titleist 816 H1
Irons: Mizuno MP5 5-PW
Wedges: Cleveland RTX ZipCore 50, 54, 58
Putter: Odyssey White Hot OG #5
Ball: Srixon Z Star XV
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