Tiger Woods’ opening round of the 88th Masters Tournament was cut short due to a rain delay early Thursday morning.
The late start did not detract from his concentration though, as he entered the clubhouse tied for 17th at 1-under par.
He opened with a birdie-three on the 1st.
However, his tee shot on the par-5 2nd found the Augusta National forest to the left. His ball was nestled up against the right side of the tree, taking away any chance for a right-handed golfer to take a swing at it.
Improvisation has always been a strength of Woods’ game. He put that on display as he went left-handed to play the ball back into the fairway.
“…[I] hit the next one almost in a hazard, played lefty, got out there, and boy, I hit a nice pitch from over the green. That was nice,” Woods said after play concluded.
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After he put the ball back into the fairway lefty, his approach shot air mailed the green, leaving him an incredibly difficult chip coming back with very little room to play with.
Yet, he hit a beautiful chip and for the up-and-down par.
He would go on to bogey the par-3 4th and birdie the par-5 8th to make the turn at 1-under. That’s where he would finish after making a short par putt on 13.
Afterward, he was asked about the difficult playing conditions with wind speeds reaching upwards of 30 miles per hour.
“The wind was all over the place. It was one of the most tricky days that I’ve ever been a part of,” Woods explained.
“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 quite impressive watching the 48-year-old legend work his way around Augusta in those conditions.
He will have to contend with even higher winds Friday with gusts expected up to 45 miles per hour.
He will tee off on 14 to finish out his first round at 7:50 am ET.
Kendall Capps is the Senior Editor of SB Nation’s Playing Through. For more golf coverage, follow us @_PlayingThrough on all major social media platforms.
