Tiger Woods made an impressive return at the 86th Masters with a one-under 71 to lie four shots behind Sungjae Im, who emerged as the sole leader after the opening round at Augusta National. As Woods was hanging in for an even par front nine, his playing partner Joaquin Niemann from Mexico got a big cheer as he holed his second shot from 105 yards on the Par-4 ninth for an eagle and became the first player to reach 3-under for the tournament. Niemann was playing alongside Woods and 2005 Open winner, Louis Ooosthuizen of South Africa, who was one-over through nine as a massive gallery followed the group.
Sungjae Im later carded a superb 5-under 67 in the afternoon wave to lie atop the leaderboard after the first round, followed by Cameron Smith (-4). Joaquin Niemann, Dustin Johnson, Scottie Scheffler, Danny Willett wr tied third at three-under. A 23-year-old Takumi Kanaya, who admires the defending champion Hideki Maysuyama, was off to a fast start as he made a birdie on each of his first two holes.
Kanaya is one of three Japanese players in the field, along with World No, 1 amateur Keita Nakajima and defending champion Matsuyama. Woods got his first birdie after five straight pars to start his round, though the fifth one should have been a birdie as it nicked the cup and stayed out. Woods hit his tee shot at the 180-yard par-3 6th hole to inside 2 feet for a birdie for a large applause.
Fans around the green gave Woods a predictable round of applause and cheers after seeing the shot. He acknowledged them with a couple of waves and a few pulls at the bill of his cap. The birdie put him at 1 under for the day and tied for second.
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