Tiger Woods, on one good leg, struggles to shoot 74

AUGUSTA, Georgia – Tiger Woods saw where his golf ball came to rest after his last hole tee Thursday and knew he was in big trouble.

What happened next would likely determine if he had any chance of remaining a contender at this year’s Masters tournament.

It was bad enough that Woods’ ball was just inches from the edge of a deep bunker to the left of the fairway, requiring a very awkward stance for his next shot. In fact, at every moment of Woods’ daily life since his right leg was rebuilt with a steel bar and metal screws after his 2021 car accident, virtually every uneven surface had become awkward.

But this instance involved higher stakes than usual. In one of the closing scenes of his Masters opening round, he would have to place his left leg on a grassy dais outside the bunker as he dug his reconstructed right leg into the sand several feet below the golf ball. The irregular posture had shoulders, arms and legs crossed. All he had to do from there was shift his weight from leg to leg on a quick swing and make solid enough contact to move the ball over 100 yards to the uphill 18th green.

Nothing wrong.

As Woods later admitted, had he been distracted by his unbalanced stance over the ball, he could have easily fired his ball right and into an adjacent hole. From there he would almost certainly have made a double bogey, or worse. And up to that point, Woods hadn’t played well enough—one over par over 17 holes—to survive such an ugly number on his scorecard. He would be eliminated from the Masters after two rounds, something that has never happened to him as a professional golfer.

But since he’s Tiger Woods, he had an escape plan, albeit a risky one. And being Tiger Woods, he didn’t choke under the pressure of the moment, nor did he allow his right leg weakness to affect the outcome. Woods somehow made sharp contact with an iron and the ball rose on a line drive to a bunker just to the right of the 18th green.

Then came the hard part.

Just as he looked ready to fall backwards into the sand, Woods quickly yanked his good left leg back into the bunker, taking all the weight off his damaged right leg at the same time, deftly lifting it above the sand while jumping four times on his left leg .

Woods’ play-by-play analysis of the series went like this: “Hop on the left leg, so it’s fine. If I did it on the other one, not so good.

Near the green, Woods popped into the bunker from a routine lie and needed two putts to complete the hole, but it was, in golf terms, a good bogey. His round of 74 was disappointing but not disastrous. Afterwards, Woods noted that rainy, windy weather had been forecast for Friday and Saturday, and with those tricky conditions, he thought he could get himself back into the tournament. Experience in changeable weather always matters at Augusta, and Woods is playing in his 25th Masters.

“If I can just hold on there a little bit, maybe back a little bit, hopefully it will be positive by the end,” he said.

It would be an extraordinary comeback against very long odds – especially with such a large part of the field getting low scores on a sunny, pleasant Thursday – but Woods was willing to dream.

“I didn’t hit my irons close enough to the hole today,” he said, blaming those miscues for a subpar round (32 putts). He hit the ball pretty well, hitting 10 of the 14 fairways.

As has been the case for many years, it’s Woods’ physical capacity that remains the biggest variable – and the one with the most influence on his scores. On Thursday, after about nine holes, he was limping more and more on his right leg. He also flinched frequently, which isn’t surprising for a 47-year-old golfer who has had multiple, complicated back surgeries, along with several surgeries on his lower legs.

Through 13 holes, Woods was three over par, working up and down the steep hills of Augusta National Golf Club, which regularly feature elevation changes of at least 30 feet. Sweat soaked his shirt and his expression was pained. But then, on the par-5 15th hole, Woods sank a curling 25-foot putt from left to right for a birdie. On the par-3 16th hole, the scene of so many spectacular Woods exploits that led to five Masters wins, his iron approach stopped 10 feet from the hole and Woods also made that putt to lower his score to one over par .

Everything seemed possible at that moment, and the huge gallery that had followed him on his rounds grew wild. With a birdie on the 18th, an even par score was ahead, which would have been a meaningful comeback. Then his drive off the 18th tee, heading toward the middle of the fairway, made an unfortunate bounce to the left and landed next to a gaping bunker.

But by hopping on one leg in time and keeping his balance in more ways than one, Woods survived to chase a sixth Masters victory one more day.