Tiger Woods Dangerously Close To Cut Line After 27 Holes

Woods, of course, is looking for his fifth green jacket. Win-Win-Win-Win. But then again it’s Augusta, and anything can happen on the back nine on Sunday.

He hit the ball into the water five straight times at one point. The crowd groaned. Woods let out a PG-rated yell in frustration – “GOD DANG IT!” – before saving the saucier stuff for his caddie as he marched to where the ball landed. “That would have been on the f–ing green”.

McIlroy made a storming start by grabbing a birdie on the first hole but other putts failed to drop and a bogey on the seventh was swiftly followed by a birdie on the next hole.

A brief look at the opening round of the Masters on Thursday. He’s a more embraceable figure at 42, and still a viable contender with a chance to add to his 14 major titles. And if it probably carries a foot less, it probably doesn’t go off the green and probably stays on the fringe.

“I played in a major championship again”, he said. Jordan Spieth, Sandy Lyle and Tyrrell Hatton were the others. Woods pushed his tee shot way right into the pine trees.

Woods was encouraged by two birdies coming down the stretch. He was tied for fourth through 54 holes previous year, before a final-round 3-over 75.

But everyone sure did buy into the narrative. What stands out from that experience is my memory of watching Bernhard Langer practicing pitch and runs on one of the practice greens adjacent to the driving range.

“He was putting some drives on top of the hill that nearly went into the Golf Channel/ESPN building and I don’t think I’ve ever seen him hit like that”, said Randy Barnett of Sarasota, Florida who was in the gallery watching practice. Less mistakes and impressive accuracy – particularly on the two front-nine par-3s – has the No. 2 player in the Official World Golf Rankings in a spot to challenge DJ for No. 1.

He was supposed to be a rival for Tiger Woods after they had a showdown at the 1999 PGA Championship, and is known as one of the finest strikers of the ball in golf.

The oddsmakers made him the betting favorite.

Tiger Woods’ emergence in the past months signaled the era of his comeback.

“You don’t know where it’s going to end up”, he said, “but you know it’s going to be in a good position”. Once a year, the greatest golfers in the world meet at the Augusta National Golf Club, playing for the coveted Green Jacket.

That charge, unfortunately, never materialized. Tiger swore he didn’t feel “jittery” entering his first heavyweight fight in a long time, but he’s human.

He had a birdie on No. 2, bogeys on Nos.

No. 2: Woods has dominated the par 5s at Augusta National in his career, but managed to only make four pars on Thursday. He’ll have about 10 feet left for birdie.

“I kind of need to pick one flight with the driver”, he said about the problems off the tee. “I wasn’t jittery, I wasn’t any of that stuff. I was doing quite well”.

“I felt like I hit a lot of good shots and unfortunately, the ball just didn’t want to stop”.

Look: Time for a little perspective here.

Woods isn’t satisfied with just competing, though.

After all he’s been through – the surgeries, the personal troubles, the lingering doubts that he’d ever be able to compete again for major championships – just being out on the course, once again at the center of the golf universe, made him feel like a victor.