Bright start for Tiger Woods in remarkable Masters return

Tiger Woods produced flashes of brilliance, moments of frustration and signs of rustiness as he enjoyed a remarkable return to action in the 86th Masters.

Playing his first top-level tournament since the same event was staged in November 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic, Woods returned an opening one-under-par 71 in testing conditions at Augusta National.

The 15-time major winner carded three birdies and two bogeys to lie just three shots behind clubhouse leader Cameron Smith, the Players Championship winner sandwiching eight birdies between double bogeys on the first and 18th.

"I did not have a very good warm-up at all, I hit it awful," Woods told ESPN. "But as the round built I was able to get into the red, made two stupid mistakes at eight but fought back to be in the red for the day I am right where I need to be."

Woods admitted he had been "saving" his body during his limited pre-tournament practice following the severe injuries suffered in his car accident last year, adding: "I came up here as a test run and was able to play 27 holes and I felt good.

"The whole idea was to keep pushing but keep recovering. That's the hard part every night. I’ve been doing that, my team has been incredible. I figured once the adrenalin kicks in and I get fired up I should be able to handle my business."

A 30-minute delay due to bad weather meant Woods started his first round at 1104 local time, coincidentally the same time at which he teed off on day one in 2019.

Woods went on to win his 15th major title, 3,954 days since he claimed his previous one when he beat Rocco Mediate in a play-off for the 2008 US Open, despite a double stress fracture and knee injury which prompted season-ending surgery.

The emotional victory came two years after