Tom Curran • E-mail

AUGUSTA, Ga. - Tiger Woods stood on the putting green near the clubhouse late Thursday afternoon, chewing on a banana and digesting his opening round 72 at the Masters.

Between bites, he said to his swing coach Hank Haney, “The only noise I heard out there all day was when ‘Poulty’ (Ian Poulter) had his hole-in-one. Other than that, it was silent.”

And whose fault is that, Mr. Woods? There were no roars because this particular Tiger didn’t prompt them.

The majority of the gallery was on Tiger’s tail from the time he teed off just before noon until he left the course at about 5:15  p.m. They were ready to burst forth with the kind of racket that echoes off these skinny Georgia pines, but Woods never really gave cause. In fact, the groans outnumbered the cheers for Woods on Thursday. Bogeys on Nos. 13 and 14 and scrambling pars on Nos. 8 and 17 had Tiger-stalkers on edge.

The one Tiger moment — a chip-in for eagle from behind the green on the par-5 15th — brought the biggest reaction. But there was more relief in that sound than exultation — “Hey, he’s back!” Tiger registered the same, going with an understated quintuple fist-pump to celebrate the fact that he plugged the leak that was squirting bogeys.

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Woods opened the day with 12 straight pars (including one from near the grandstand on the par-5 eighth). He was having his normal, unspectacular Masters Thursday. It’s a rarely mentioned fact, Woods starts slowly here. He’s never been in the 60s in a first round at Augusta, and since 2002 he has been at or above par in every Thursday round.

And on the par-5, 510-yard 13th came a gaffe. He had 214 yards left into the green over Rae’s Creek and he pulled a 4-iron.

“The second shot was sweet,” he claimed. “A high, drawing 4-iron, had to start the ball right of the creek, hooked it all the way in there, landed pin high and skipped it over the back and left myself the hardest pitch you could possibly have on this golf course.”

Woods tried to chip close but the ball slid back down the edge of the green, leaving him a putt from off the green for birdie. He slid that past by about 10 feet and missed the comebacker to give him a 6.

Stevie (Williams, Woods’ caddy) and I were talking about it and in hindsight we should have just … (putted) it down there and have a 30- or 40-footer coming back up the hill,” lamented Woods. “I said, ‘I’m pitching good, I can pull this off. I can keep it on the top shelf.’ It just didn’t happen.”

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