Yet, it took just one sublime moment from the world No 1 on Thursday to save a sloppy even par 72 that was still good enough to leave him upbeat about his chances.

An eagle at the 530-yard 15th kept him within reach of the first-round lead of four-under 68 posted by Englishman Justin Rose and South African Trevor Immelman.

'Yeah, it's good,' Woods said after a 5 1/2-hour round that did not include a single birdie. 'I kept myself in the tournament. With the weather supposed to be getting more difficult as the week goes on, I'm right there.'

He is there mostly because a singular stroke of brilliance resulted in that round-saving eagle when he holed out his 35-foot pitch shot from just off the back of the green.

It evoked a mighty roar from the crowd, at least four rousing fist pumps and eased the sting of bogeys on his two previous holes.

'It was pretty easy,' he said. 'It was straight uphill. The ball was sitting up. It was pretty soft underneath there and I just had to carry it far enough. And it went in.'

He also continued his curious streak of never shooting an opening round in the 60s in his 14 previous Masters appearances.

In 2005, when he won his fourth Masters title, he began with a 74 and followed it with rounds of 66, 65 and 71. He prevailed in a play-off with Chris DiMarco, winning on the first hole of sudden death.

Despite an hour-long delay at the start of play because of early-morning fog, conditions brightened considerably on a glorious spring day of warm sunshine with just a hint of breeze.

Despite seemingly ideal conditions, this is no longer your father's Augusta National, not at 7,445 yards, with soft, hardly-any-roll fairways and treacherous pin positions all around typically breathtaking putting surfaces.

'The way the golf course plays now, you don't really shoot many low rounds here any more,' Woods said. 'There are really no roars out there. The only noise I heard out there all day was when 'Poulty' had his hole-in-one. Other than that, it was silent.'

The world No 1 got into plenty of trouble during his round, starting with hitting a tree down the left side on his opening drive.

The ball landed in the second cut of rough and, after missing the green to the right on his approach, he needed a chip and a tricky eight-foot putt to save par.

There were plenty of other adventures, including a second-shot three-wood that flew past the green at the 570-yard No 8, hitting a pole and ricocheting to the right of the putting surface.

His third pitch came up 15 feet short of the pin, and he missed that birdie putt on his way to 12 straight pars.

The streak ended with a poor chip at No 13 and a drive into the woods at No 14. But those bogeys were erased with the elegant eagle at No 15, a near-miss 15-foot birdie putt that grazed the cup at No 16 and lipped away, and a saved par from the trees again at the 17th.

'I feel good about how I played,' he insisted. 'I hit the ball really well, hit a lot of good putts that just didn't go in.

'That's just the way it goes. I've just got to stay patient out there, and hopefully, it'll turn.'

NEW YORK TIMES

The Masters, Day 3
Live, Ch24, tomorrow, 3.30am-7am