The first mission has been accomplished for Tiger Woods.
Given what he has been through over the last few turbulent months, making the halfway cut here at the Masters must have felt as nice as slipping into a freshly dry cleaned Green Jacket.
On the road to recovery, this was a big step in the right direction. Since confirming his return to competitive action after a two month absence, there has been plenty of ghoulish intrigue surrounding this particular Tiger tale. Would his gammy back go again? Would the shambolic short game that had been on display rear its head again in this most unforgiving of environments?
Those looking for the freak show element to this week's Masters have been left disappointed....unless they stuck their heads into the media centre. A three-under 69, his lowest round at Augusta since he had a closing 67 in the 2011 Masters, hoisted him up to the fringes of the top-10 on a two-under aggregate of 142. The day began well for the 39-year-old as he plonked a drive down the middle, flighted an approach to seven-feet and rolled in the birdie putt. Despite leaking a shot on the sixth, Woods, who has dropped out of the top 100 in the world, trundled in a 30-footer for birdie on seven before making another gain on the eighth. Another birdie on the 11th kept him moving up the order.
"I'm very proud of what I've done and how I've managed to dig it out," said Woods, whose haul of 14 major wins includes four Masters titles. "I told you guys, I was at a pretty low point in my career but to put it together and be in a position where I can compete in a major championship like this is something to be proud of."
Woods was just 21 when he won his first Masters in 1997 by a record-busting 12 shots. There's another 21-year-old dominating proceedings this year in the shape of Jordan Spieth although should he finish the job off, he won't steal Woods's record as he is just a few months older.
Spieth romped into a five shot lead early in the day with another barrage of birdies and the condition of a rain softened course has certainly aided that charge. "It (Spieth's score) is indicative of what the course is giving up," added Woods, who would clearly like to see a firmer, faster course. "We couldn't believe how slow the greens were. It's quiet out there, there are no sub air systems on. If they (the tournament committee) put them on and suck the moisture out of the greens they can get firm or they can live with it like it is and we can go out there and make a bunch of birdies. They are not rolling out and we left a couple short. Our group didn't really do a very good job of it. But Jordan is doing a great job of it."
Woods led by three shots from Colin Montgomerie at the half way stage of that 1997 procession. Spieth's gap is even bigger and it's even bigger still to Woods, who is 12 strokes back. "I'm still right there," he said with purpose. "I'm 12 back but there are not a lot of guys ahead of me. And with 36 holes here anything can happen. So we have a long way to go. There are so many holes to play and so many different things can happen."
We wait to see what happens to the returning Woods over the weekend.
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