Tiger Woods shoots 1-over 73 in first Masters round in three years

6:41 PM ET

AUGUSTA, Ga. -- Tiger Woods tried to take the positives from his first round in a major championship since 2015, enjoying being back in the chase again and feeling good about keeping a shaky round from getting away from him.

But given the enormous hype surrounding him and the solid golf he has been playing coming into the Masters, Woods' opening 73 on Thursday came off a bit flat.

Woods, 42, made only three birdies, failed to birdie any of the par-5s and shot his first over-par score on the PGA Tour since February's Genesis Open.

He managed to find the positives.

"I played in a major championship again, but I got myself back in this tournament and I could have easily let it slip away," Woods said. "And I fought hard to get it back there, and I'm back in this championship. There's a lot of holes to be played."

For only the fifth time in 79 Masters rounds, Woods failed to make a birdie or better on any of the four par-5 holes. Of the past 10 Masters winners, only two have failed to play that combination of holes in fewer than 5 under par for the week.

And Woods was in perfect position to do so with big drives at the second and eighth holes; he missed the fairway at both the 13th and 15th.

"I had a 6-iron and 2-iron into each par-5 [on the first 9] and I missed on both,'' he said. "And I missed it in the correct spot, I thought on both par-5s, didn't get them up and down. I have to hit better shots and hit better chips, too.''

Par-5s, the hallmark of his dominance throughout Woods' 14-major career, have been a struggle so far in his comeback. He came into the Masters ranked 101st in par-5 scoring on the PGA Tour in his comeback from spinal fusion surgery last year.

It was also the first time he failed to shoot par or better since the second round of the Genesis Open -- a stretch of 12 rounds -- in February.

Woods is playing the Masters for the first time since a tie for 17th in 2015. The four-time winner of the tournament then missed the cut in the last three majors that year and was unable to play in any of them in 2016 and 2017.

He survived a shaky first-tee opening shot, birdied the third hole after a big drive, then ran into trouble at the fourth and fifth, making bogeys at each. He turned in 1 over but things got interesting at the 11th.

At the long, 505-yard par-4, Woods sailed his drive well right, over trees. He had an opening to the green and cleared spectators out of the way, but one of them had left a chair in his path. The ball hit it instead of rolling up toward the green.

"Otherwise it's just short of the green, an easy up and down from there, where I was trying to leave it,'' he said.

Then at the par-3 12th, Woods hit a weak shot that came up short and rolled into Rae's Creek. After a drop, he pitched just short of the green but holed the 15-footer for a bogey.

"I hit a terrible golf shot,'' he said. "I was trying to take a 9-iron and just stuck it in the ground [hit it heavy].''

Making the putt, however, helped save the round. "We were anticipating getting it back to even par, just fighting out way back to even par,'' he said."I didn't play either par-5 well. I could have easily let the round slip away from me, but I got it back. And I'm right back in this tournament.''

Woods failed to birdie the 13th but was one of a few players who birdied the 14th. After failing to birdie the par-5 15th, he got another birdie at the 16th to get back to 1 over par.

"A 73 is fine,'' he said. "By the end of the week this will be a pretty packed leaderboard the way the golf course is set up. They have it right where they want it. It's really hard to run away from it, but it's also really easy to lose it out there. By the end of the week there will be a bunch of guys with a chance to win this tournament.''

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