Tiger Woods revealed he was "sore" after limping to an opening round 74 to leave him in danger of missing the cut at the Masters for the first time as a professional.
The five-time champion finished nine shots behind his playing partner and co-leader Viktor Hovland. Woods, 47, made his return to golf here last year only 14 months after a horror car crash and he has played only one event this year.
And the American superstar made five bogeys and three birdies in his first round. Asked how his leg felt, Woods simply said: "Sore." The world No.1001 hopped awkwardly after playing his second shot at the last with his feet in a fairway bunker and slapped his ball into greenside sand.
"It's on my left leg," he said. "I'm good. Hop on the left leg is fine. If I did it on the other one, not so fine. I was trying to hook it more than that and trying to put it in the left gallery or left bunker and give myself an angle. I didn't do that.
"Then again, try not to hosel rocket over to the right either. That hosel was sitting there right next to that golf ball." And with bad weather forecast for the next three days, Woods admitted he had missed a chance to post a good score in calm conditions today.
"I felt like I drove it good," he said. "I just didn't do the job I need to do to get the ball close. Today was the opportune time to get the ball... get the round under par, and I didn't do that today.
"Most of the guys are going low today. This was the day to do it. Hopefully tomorrow I'll be a little bit better, a little bit sharper, and kind of inch my way through it.
"This is going to be an interesting finish to the tournament with the weather coming in. If I can just kind of hang in there, maybe kind of inch my way back, hopefully it will be positive towards the end." Woods also admitted he was suffering from rustiness as he took 32 putts – including 18 on his front nine.
"I didn't have very good speed early," said the 15-time Major winner. "I had two three-putts, and consequently I'm a couple over par. I didn't hit my irons close enough today. I didn't give myself very good looks. Need to do a better job of that going forward to hopefully get myself back in this tournament."
