'Dumbass' Tiger Woods battles on Augusta return

Woods' erratic play saw him scramble to a one-over 73 in the first round of the Masters - a showing he described as, "a good day" in the calm, sober atmosphere of Augusta's media building.

That did not seem to be the way he saw it out on the course, however, screaming, "Oh Tiger... Dumbass!" at himself after shoving a tee shot on the par-5 15th hole into the trees.

Woods is notorious for his language out on the course, and this was a very mild moment by his standards - indeed, it's a rarity to be able to repeat one of his outbursts with resorting to the asterisk key.

And given how bad he looked when hobbling off the course at Torrey Pines in early February, it must have been a huge relief for fans, organisers and the man himself that his see-saw round of four bogeys and three birdies left him nine strokes off the pace set by 21-year-old Jordan Spieth, who fired an eight-under 64 at Augusta National. That's a long way back, but he has every chance of sticking around for the weekend.

When last seen in competition, Woods's short game was shockingly inept, leaving many to wonder if he was suffering from the chipping 'yips', or suffering a mental block as he worked his way back from injury with a new swing coach.

There was no sign of any of that on Thursday, however.

"It was a good day. I felt good out there," said the four-times Masters winner, who was tied for 41st as 30 players bettered par on rain-softened greens on a warm, gentle day.

"I made maybe two dumb mistakes out there. The only thing I struggled with was the pace of the greens, which were much slower than we expected."

His plan for day two?

"Hit the putts harder."

Well, you can't fault those tactics.

What you can fault, however, was Woods' consistency off the tee. Time and again he appeared to be fighting his timing, sending balls left and into trouble.

Most heartening of all, however, was the way the former world number one used his abundant imagination and power to escape danger. Woods' greatest hallmark in his best years was an extraordinary ability to suffer a bad day at the office, yet still come in somewhere around par.

That was the case in the first round, where Woods' work around the greens was encouraging - with the exception of a three-putt at the first for bogey and a strong chip that denied him a birdie at the third.

"That's the strength of my game and that's the way it should be and that's why I worked my butt off and hit thousands and thousands of shots," Woods said.

The 39-year-old American, who plunged to 111th as he struggled to return to form following back surgery last year, offset two bogeys with birdies on the par-fives before an adventure-filled bogey at the ninth.

The back nine was less turbulent: he bogeyed the par-three 12th with a delicate pitch after his tee shot landed short and rolled down into Rae's Creek, and birdied the par-five 13th to make up the stroke.

73 is one of those scores that can mean anything. On occasion players hit the ball beautifully and don't make a single putt, and walk off thinking their 73 could have been a 63.

Woods' opening day was the opposite: a 73 that might have been an 83, had he not managed the course and his game beautifully.

It's a great sign. Scrambling - the art of scoring, if you like - is what most players struggle hardest to recapture after a lay-off. Woods showed that he has no ring rust on that score.

But while he's proven that he can still get out of jail free, what we've not seen from him in a long, long time is the ability to burn up the course with strings of birdies when the going is good.

Rory McIlroy spoke earlier this week about playing a practice round late last year with Woods in which the 39-year-old birdied six of his first seven holes, a comment which suggests that the "real" Tiger Woods is still in there somewhere.

But golf clubs across the world are full of amateurs and failed pros who can shoot 63 in practice. Can Woods still lift his game when it matters? The jury is still out - but on the balance of evidence so far in 2015, a second round of 83 for Tiger seems far, far more likely than a 63.