Woods misses fairway, saves par as fans swarm opening hole at Masters

Patrons were packed a dozen deep around the first hole. Tiger Woods missed the fairway with his drive but still made par to start his Masters, kansascity.com.

The most anticipated shot of 2022 — and perhaps much longer — came at 11:04 a.m. yesterday at the first tee at Augusta National, when Woods was announced on the first tee in the first round of the Masters.

Dressed in a hot pink mock turtleneck and black slacks, Woods was greeted with a high volume of cheers from the patrons who surrounded the tee on three sides at least a dozen deep. It was quite a scene.

Woods’ tee shot traveled only 264 yards (TV cameras failed to track it, but it’s very possible that the ball clipped a pine tree) and wound up just short of the fairway bunker on the right of the 445-yard, par-4 first hole. It was a good break, as that fairway bunker is a tough place to play from.

Walking up the fairway, Woods showed slight signs of a gait that is not quite normal. From 175 yards, Woods’ approach found the front of the green before trickling off the putting surface.

His pitch shot skipped a couple of times and wound up 10 feet short of the hole. But he knocked in the putt for par to the collective roar of the patrons bordering the first green.

“The body might have changed but the putting stroke has not,” quipped Colt Knost on the Masters TV stream.

With that, Tiger Woods had officially returned to professional golf, and to the Masters.