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Youth is Served at Day 1 of The Masters

Tiger Woods playing the Masters again, his shirt as pink as the azaleas at Augusta National, would have been enough reason to celebrate.

 

It felt that way to him, too.

 

Woods twirled his club after good shots, and there were enough. He pumped his fist after his longest birdie putt. And then normalcy gave way to reality when he used his wedge as a walking stick for his once-battered and now weary legs for a final climb toward the 18th green.

 

Another par save for a 1-under 71, four shots behind Sungjae Im.

 

But this wasn’t just about a score. Woods was competing in a major, the first time in 508 days since a car crash some 14 month ago that shattered his right leg. Still to come is Friday, the first time he will have walked 18 holes at Augusta National on consecutive days since the accident with what he described as “lots of ice” in between.

 

Im, the 24-year-old South Korean known for rarely missing the center of the club face, ran off three straight birdies at the start, recovered from a pair of bogeys with a 12-foot eagle putt on the 13th and added a late birdie for a 5-under 67. He was one shot ahead of Cameron Smith.

 

Dustin Johnson, who held off Im and Smith when he won the Masters in November 2020, was in the large group at 69, along with former Masters champion Danny Willett, world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler and Joaquin Niemann.

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