AUGUSTA, Ga. — On a day when Tiger Woods’ every facial tic was open to interpretation — Is he forcing that smile? Is he cursing under his breath? Was that fist pump more or less exuberant than it might have been before? — there was something to seeing Fred Couples amble up the 18th fairway at Augusta National.
Life, to Couples, scarcely seems a concern, and it is instructive that when Woods chose a playing partner for his first public practice round as he returned from exile here, he looked to Couples, because, as fellow pro Jim Furyk said, “You’re never really going to bother Freddy.”
So it will matter not to the 50-year-old Couples — who opened the Masters by sauntering through a 6-under-par 66 to take a one-shot lead — that Thursday was about Woods, and in some corners only Woods. Never mind the rather epic story lines to tug away from that central fact — Tom Watson, matching the best Masters score of his career with a 67 at age 60, comes to mind — but it remained inescapable.
Woods might have been away from competitive golf for nearly five months and had his previous life shredded by a sex scandal, but he is still the game’s most talented player, and the turmoil in his personal life has not, apparently, leaked into his golf game.
The best score a clear-headed, image-intact Tiger had ever shot in the opening round of the Masters? A 70, four times. His score Thursday, when folks who had never watched a golf tournament before were suddenly curious about his result? A 4-under 68 that put him, despite the swirl, two shots back of the lead.
“It felt good,” Woods said afterward. “It felt really good. Just to get into the rhythm, the round, and just kind of go about my business.”
In another year, Woods’ 68 would have been noted as central to the tournament, because he trails a star-studded group at 5-under that includes not only Watson, but two-time Masters champ Phil Mickelson, PGA champion Y.E. Yang — the only man to beat Woods in a major on the final day — and accomplished Englishman Lee Westwood. But he would have ceded the Thursday stage to Watson — who conjured memories of his near-victory at the British Open in Turnberry, Scotland, last summer — and Couples, who is a rookie on the Champions Tour, a veteran here.
“For me to be 6-under and him to be 5-under,” Couples said, “it’s a great start for the older guys.”
Yet from the moment Woods walked through a phalanx of 10-deep fans and arrived at the practice green — preceded by two uniformed police officers, trailed by three security guards — the build-up from his nearly five-month absence was apparent. He shook hands with Matt Kuchar, one of his playing partners, smiling and even interacting a bit with the crowd.
His first shot: A beautiful drive down the right side of the fairway. When that happened, the plane flying overhead dragging a sign that read, “Tiger: Did you mean Booty-ism?!” — a snide reference to Woods’ public pledge to use his Buddhist faith as a means of overcoming his serial infidelity — dropped into the background, and golf took over.
He made his first birdie at the third, pumped his fist after an eagle at 8, made an otherworldly birdie at 9 — converting a drive that had been knocked down by a tree into a smoking, hooked iron shot into the back left pin placement — and made an eagle putt of perhaps 10 feet at 15. He celebrated good shots, muttered after lipped-out putts — and there were several — and put himself in contention. He said there were no negative comments.
“It was unbelievable,” Woods said. “I mean all day, the people, I haven’t heard them cheer this loud in all my years here.”
They cheered, too, for Watson, who last year spoke almost mystically about being comfortable with his surroundings at Turnberry. He has no such sense at Augusta, and his record shows it. He has missed the cut 11 of the past 12 years here, and during that time had broken par just once. His last competitive round at the Masters was an 83 that sent him packing a year ago.
But Watson arrived this year, still with what he called “a certain glow about the whole situation” regarding Turnberry, where he would have become the oldest major champion — by a margin of 11 years. And on his bag here this week, he put his 27-year-old son Michael, who had never caddied for him in a PGA Tour event.
On Sunday, the Watsons played a practice round at Augusta National, and Michael used the occasion to propose to his girlfriend — right near the creek on the 13th hole. And then Michael delivered a message to his father.
“He said: ‘Dad, show me. Show me you can still play this golf course,’ ” Tom Watson said. “You know what? I wanted to show him I can still play the golf course.”
That was apparent when he hit a 25-foot putt to start his tournament with a birdie, and when he got up and down on five consecutive holes to start the back nine.
