The Masters 2019: The best storylines from the first round at Augusta National

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AUGUSTA, GEORGIA – APRIL 11: Tiger Woods of the United States plays his shot from the fourth tee during the first round of the Masters at Augusta National Golf Club on April 11, 2019 in Augusta, Georgia. (Photo by David Cannon/Getty Images) /

Tiger Woods puts up another callback to Masters past

Full disclosure here: Tiger Woods narrowly edged out Rory McIlroy for my pre-Masters pick. I don’t know if I just can’t get my heart out of my head’s way or what, but I like what I’ve been seeing from him lately. No, he didn’t putt well at all in his final day of action at the WGC Match Play, but come on. This is the Masters, and it’s Tiger freakin’ Woods we’re talking about.

With his somewhat early tee time, Woods got the patrons at Augusta buzzing quickly. His driving was strong early on, and a birdie on No. 2 got him into red numbers hot out of the gates. His scoring wasn’t outstanding on the first nine, but that wasn’t a huge surprise. When Woods put together back-to-back birdies on 13 and 14, he took a share of the lead at -3. There’s something about seeing that name at the top of the Augusta leaderboard that adds a bit of electricity to the atmosphere.

Tiger was far from perfect, of course, but he’s tied for 11th place and just four shots off the lead. In his post-round comments, he acknowledged as much in his typically brief, to-the-point answers.

“I felt like I played well and I did all the things I needed to do today to post a good number,” he said. “I drove it well, hit some good iron shots, speed was good on the greens.”

Wait – is this from 2019 or 1999? We knew the wardrobe was a throwback this week, but the comments don’t need to be recycled, do they?

Come to think of it, forget the comments, let’s allow the play to speak for itself. Woods is in a strong position heading into Friday’s second round, and he knows what needs to be done. He’s won four green jackets, after all. And in three of those years, do you know what he shot in the first round?

70, the same two-under mark that he reached today. The only outlier was in 2005, when he actually shot 74. But considering that’s where the mock turtleneck comes from, it’s okay that we’re not redoing that part of the week.

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