Tiger Woods hits a tee shot during a Wednesday practice round at the Masters.
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Check in each day of this week’s Masters for the unfiltered opinions of our writers and editors as they break down the hottest topic in the tournament, and join the conversation by tweeting us @golf_com.
On Thursday, Tiger Woods tees off in his first official 72-hole event since the 2020 Masters, and for the first time since his February 2021 car accident. What will Woods shoot in his opening round, and why?
Sean Zak: 71, with four birdies, one bogey and one double. Why? Because he could probably shoot 74 blindfolded, and he’s not going to be blindfolded on Thursday.
Alan Bastable: Assuming his body holds up (and I don’t think he’d be here if he had any real doubt that it won’t), it’s hard to imagine a scenario where he shoots anything worse than one or two over par; by all accounts he’s hitting the ball too well to post a big number. That said, I’m not expecting a 67 or 68, either. In his last five Masters starts, Woods has broken par just twice in the first round. Pencil him in for an up-and-down even-par 72.
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Nick Piastowski: Let’s go 70. Three birdies and a bogey, as he plays a controlled game and gets aggressive only when he can.
Michael Bamberger: If his game-time decision is to play? Level.
Dylan Dethier: There’s nothing game-time, that’s for sure. He’s in gamer mode. It’s funny how things work out — if this Masters had taken place two weeks ago, it would have been that much tougher for Tiger to show up in competitive form. But he’s here and by all accounts he’s ready. His 69 is going to send the sports world into a frenzy.
Josh Berhow: Tiger will shoot 73. I think he’ll have a strong start but lose some strokes coming in. He looked tired around the 18th green today when he was finishing up his practice round. Fatigue might really become a thing.
James Colgan: Nothing about Tiger’s last seven days have even bordered on reasonable, so why on earth would we be reasonable with this prediction? Tiger’s shooting 69 on Thursday.
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