Tiger Woods' highly-anticipated tee time for the opening round of the Masters was delayed 30 minutes on Thursday morning due to rain. But the interruption didn't have any affect on his overall performance. Once the weather improved and skies cleared, the Augusta National crowd witnessed golf's most popular star make an astonishing comeback with few hiccups.
Just 14 months removed from nearly losing his right leg in a serious car crash, Woods shot a jaw-dropping 1-under par 71 in the first round, with three birdies and two bogeys. The 46-year-old legend, who's enduring pain in his surgically repaired leg, energized the crowd with a fist pump after making his birdie putt on the 16th hole. Suffice to say, Woods' first competitive round of golf in 508 days was a resounding success.
"He knows the course like the back of his hand. It's 25 years since he won his first Masters," Golfweek senior writer David Dusek told the Maggie and Perloff show on Thursday. "He wasn't worried like, 'Do I know the course? Am I going to figure it out?' He figured it out decades ago -- it's just, can he recover from this walk. We'll really get some answers tomorrow morning... I genuinely think, if he thought he couldn't be competitive, they would've pulled the ripcord...
"I have as much respect for what Woods is doing here as any athlete we've seen making a comeback in any sport... If you're a Tiger fan and want to see him really being in the mix, this is everything you could've hoped for. He looks healthy and he's hitting some good shots. It's everything you could've hoped for. Now we'll see what's going to happen with some of these other guys and how much the lead will extend out... But I think he makes the cut..."
Woods sustained serious injuries in a single-car crash in February 2021, near Los Angeles. He suffered open fractures to his lower right leg, and had a rod inserted in his tibia and screws and pins inserted in his foot and ankle during emergency surgery. The last time he'd played in a regular PGA Tour event was 17 months ago, when he finished tied for 38th at the 2020 Masters.
The good news for Woods is that he'll have close to 24 hours to recover and rest. He'll be one of the last players to tee off on Friday, as his second-round time is scheduled for 1:41 p.m. ET. Before the tournament began, Woods was listed as a 40-to-1 shot to win, according to the William Hill Sportsbook. Now, the odds are 28-to-1. If he somehow captures his sixth green jacket, he'll be tied with legend Jack Nicklaus for the most all-time.
The entire Woods conversation between Dusek and Maggie and Perloff can be accessed in the audio player above (begins at 4:00 p.m. ET mark).
You can follow the Maggie and Perloff Show on Twitter @MaggieandPerl and Tom Hanslin @TomHanslin.