Things are about to get tougher at the Masters. Here’s why that sets up well for Tiger Woods

AUGUSTA, Ga. — We’ve long known of his Sunday Red, but as if he needed any more attention, Tiger Woods trotted out the Thursday Raspberry for the opening round of the Masters.

Around here, naturally, they’d probably prefer Azalea Pink. OK, maybe fuschia.

Whatever, there was no missing Tiger Thursday at Augusta National. He was the guy surrounded by more gallery, it seemed, than the rest of the 91-man field combined.

The final four threesomes Thursday featured some tall timber, including Collin Morikawa, Dustin Johnson, Jon Rahm, Jordan Spieth, Brooks Koepka and Rory McIlroy. By then, Tiger was on the opposite side of the property, working through Amen Corner and beyond.

It’s no understatement — the folks watching those young stars Tiger’s younger cohorts starting their rounds had plenty of elbow room. Compared to the norm, the first-fairway-and-green gathering felt more like Thursday at the Quad Cities Open.

Sometimes he was brilliant, other times he was scrambling. We saw all of the Tiger Woods traits Thursday … including a new shirt.

This, by the way, ain’t the norm.

The first round of Tiger’s well-documented comeback was hard work, but not in the way we expected. There was little sign of a physical struggle, to the point that if you didn’t know of his damaged right leg, you might not even notice the slight limp.

No, this was the type of occasional struggle we’ve seen from Tiger Woods before, the type he’s famously navigated to keep within reach of the Sunday goal. There were some errant tee balls, a bad pitch and chip back-to-back on the eighth, but with some of the familiar great iron shots and clutch putts on display.

Masters: Tee times | Live blog | How to watch

He began and ended his day with bad tee shots but saves of par, the types of pars they like to say are as good as birdies, in the psyche if not on the card. He was never over par and never better than his finishing 1 under, which hints at a stability that’s rarely more misleading than it is at Augusta National.

“I fought back,” Tiger said after climbing the final hill at 18 and saving par with a classy pitch 10 minutes after a horrendous tee shot. “To end up in the red, I’m right where I need to be.”

Regardless of what happens over the next 18, 36 and 54 holes, Tiger might’ve already clinched Comeback Player of the Year.

Any physical strain Tiger is enduring will surely continue. But all sorts of strain will be spread around, and that has to help a guy who doesn’t flinch at such things. And “such things” are coming.

Course and tournament co-founder Bobby Jones liked to say he wasn’t out to punish bad shots, but to properly reward good shots. His standards were high.

Jones was also a lover of the links golf found in England and, particularly, Scotland, where his legend was practically as big as it was in his home country. He and course architect Alister McKenzie put touches of links golf into Augusta National here and there, but obviously couldn’t design Scottish-style links conditions, which include the types of gusts that even make a turtle widen his stance.

Nope, they couldn’t guarantee the gusts, but sometimes they invite themselves to the show, as they have this year. Early April in Augusta is quite the mixed bag. Thursday showed a bit of the variety — the slightest of mist in the morning, following overnight thunderstorms, and quite humid.

By late morning the sun arrived, and by lunchtime all the clouds were gone, the winds flexed to sweep away the humidity and hint, ominously, at a rough couple days ahead. Friday is looking like tolerable temps but winds into the 20s, and Saturday’s winds will near the 20 mph range while it might not reach 60 degrees.

Those who survive in contention will receive a wonderful Sunday, it appears, but first things first.

Majors played in the toughest conditions can take on the look of a log-rolling competition, except instead of two rollers, there are several, sometimes many. One by one, sometimes two by two, there’s just too much going on and they begin to tumble away. Sometimes it’s a slip, sometimes a spectacular plunge.

Jack Nicklaus won many majors this way, and not just the U.S. Open and PGA Championship, where thick rough and slick greens were the norm. The Masters could also become 72 holes of attrition. Jack’s winning scores at his six Masters show the range of possibilities: 2-under, 17-under, even-par, 2-under, 12-under, 9-under.

The winning score the past five years has averaged better than 13 under par. Hard to imagine that happening this weekend.

— Reach Ken Willis at ken.willis@news-jrnl.com