Solid finish by Tiger

Posted by Tom Curran: Thursday, April 10, 2008 6:07 PM

I mentioned in my first Masters 10 of the week that you shouldn't be surprised if Tiger doesn't light it up on Thursday. I was right (see Giants fans, I'm not always wrong about EVERYTHING).

Woods put a bow on a scrappy round with a scrambling par on 17 when he drove it way right into a stand of pines. His punch out shot snuggled up on the swale short right and his approach left him about 8 feet to the left of the hole. He made the flat putt.

Woods also parred 18.

After spending a few minutes with TV commitments after his round, Woods went to the practice green with coach Hank Haney and putted for about 15 minutes.

The drill he did was an interesting one: he placed two tees inches apart with just enough room for his putter to go through them. He then placed a ball between the tees and attempted 30-inch putts without hitting the tees. He did them both one-handed and two handed. He never hit the tees and never missed a putt in about 50 attempts.

Woods also chomped a banana as he practiced and said to Haney, "I putted good today, I just got NOTHING out of it."

Eventually, Woods let Haney adourn and practiced about 15 long distance putts before giving the "let's get out of here" to an indiscreet set of security guards who flanked him as he strode the 75 or so yards from the putting green to the peace of the clubhouse.

We'll have a column on Tiger's day before too long and will update the blog as necessary.

And it is necessary to note that, at this time, the leader in the clubhouse is Justin Rose at 4-under. Trevor Immelman and Brandt Snedeker (bless you) are also at 4-under but on the closing hole.

Tiger zoning in

Posted by Tom Curran: Thursday, April 10, 2008 4:30 PM

Tiger just went around the rim and out from about 15 feet on the par-3 16th. He flew his tee shot over the top of the flag and had a quick slider coming back down that he nearly made for his first birdie of the tournament.

After 12 uneventful holes to open his round, Woods has gone bogey-bogey-eagle and then just missed the birdie.

The leader as of 4:30 is Justin Rose who's 4-under through 15. The clubhouse leaders at 2-under are Ian Poulter (propelled by an ace on 16) and Robert Karlsson.

Defending Masters champ Zach Johnson just gave a shot back on the 17th and is at 2-under.

Woods Cleans Up Mess With One Chip

Posted by Tom Curran: Thursday, April 10, 2008 4:22 PM

AUGUSTA - Tiger Woods just chipped in for eagle off the back of the 15th green to get back to even-par. His quintuple fist-pump showed the relief Woods felt after cobbling together back-to-back bogeys on 13 and 14.

With a rolling mass of humanity groaning for the better part of 30 minutes as Woods went from even-par to plus-2, Woods brought the noise to a crescendo with his chip.

Woods went from 50th to 22nd on that one swing.

On 13 -- the last of Amen Corner's three pivotal holes -- Woods appeared to use a 3-wood off the tee to put himself in position about 250 yards away on the par-5. He hit his second shot pure but reacted negatively when his ball trickled off the back of the green into the shadows. Woods punctuated his disgust with an angry baseball-swing of his club.

His next shot was the killer. Perhaps tentative because of the memory of having putted into the Rae's Creek back in 2005 on the same hole, Woods babied his chip and had it roll back off the green. His fourth shot -- a putt - raced about 7 feet past and he missed the comebacker for a 6.

On 14, Woods drove hard into the left trees about 230 yards away. The ball come straight down from the pines and nestled in pineneedles behind a tree. Woods hooded a little 7-iron to get out of the mess but still needed a pitch and two putts to get down and had his 5.

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