AUGUSTA, Ga. - He’d made a mess of the 18th hole, and as Tiger Woods stopped behind the green to do the obligatory interviews for the media, you could practically see him grinding his teeth to keep from saying something he would regret.

He is forever poised in such settings, yet this was raw Tiger, or as raw as he gets. And so when a reporter asked him why he can’t ever break 70 on the first day at the Masters, the question clearly struck a nerve.

“Say again?’’ Tiger said, seemingly needing time to edit himself.

When the question was repeated, a bit more lightheartedly, Tiger was ready with a response.

“Yeah,’’ he said with a smile, “but that’s how I’ve won it four times, too.’’

The answer got the laugh from reporters that Tiger may have anticipated, but make no mistake, this was his way of returning fire. Yet it was surely a sign of the frustration he felt after failing to take advantage of what statistically was the easiest day for first-round scoring in the history of the Masters.

It’s true that Woods has been a notoriously slow starter at Augusta National, even the four times he’s won here. Yet it was still rather shocking to see him shoot 70 on a day when 38 players broke par and 19 shot rounds in the 60s.

Tournament leader Chad Campbell was 9-under par through 16 holes, on his way to tying the course record before nervously bogeying the 17th and 18th for a 65, and Larry Mize shot 67, for goodness sake.

Warm, calm conditions were a factor, but tournament organizers clearly responded to criticism that they’d removed the famous roars from the Masters with the changes to the course in recent years. As a result, they moved tees up a bit, watered greens to make them softer than usual, and made the pin placements more birdie-friendly as well.

“I think they felt sorry for us,’’ Campbell said.

However, the setup didn’t produce fireworks from either Tiger or Phil Mickelson, who shot a one-over par 73.

So much for the long-awaited Tiger-Phil Sunday showdown? Maybe, maybe not.

Tiger, five shots behind Campbell, has come back from bigger first-round deficits to win, the largest being seven strokes in 2005 when he shot 74 to Chris DiMarco’s 67. Mickelson, meanwhile, was five and three strokes back after the first round when he won in 2004 and ’06, respectively.

For Mickelson the issue was mostly the type of wayward driving that has plagued him in majors since his meltdown the U.S. Open at Winged Foot in 2006. He hit only six of 14 fairways Thursday and was candid in saying he had a miserable day.

“I drove it terrible,’’ he said. “I played terrible. Putted terrible. I put in just terrible spots all day.’’

As inconsistent as Mickelson has been this year, winning two tournaments but failing to contend in his four other stroke-play starts and missing the cut by 10 strokes in Houston last week, he’s a longshot to play himself into contention at this Masters.

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With Tiger, you’d be a fool to count him out. Still, it’s not a good sign that he was plagued by the same balky putter which hurt him in two of his first three starts this season since returning from last summer’s knee surgery. Woods needed 32 putts in his round, which tied him for 83rd in the field.

Only Ernie Els, with 34 putts, took more than Tiger. For comparison’s sake, 73-year-old Gary Player took 27 putts.

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Unlike Mickelson, Tiger almost never admits to doing anything “terrible,” and indeed he insisted that he wasn’t frustrated with his putting.

“I hit good putts,” he said. “If I hit bad putts it would be a totally different deal, but I hit good putts. Just means I need to read them a little bit better.”

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