Woods was back at the course before sunrise on Friday (local time) to finish up the final five holes of his opening round, which was cut short by darkness after storms on Thursday delayed the start of the tournament by two and a half hours.
He made a couple of bogeys to complete a 73, then had less than an hour to rest up for another 18 holes.
With the wind howling again at Augusta National, Woods had to do all sorts of scrambling to compensate for one wayward approach shot after another. But he kept pulling off nifty chips and clutch putts to keep his score safely above the cut line, which was projected at 4 over when he finished his round.
“I was forced to get up-and-down a few times today, and I was able to do that,” Woods said. “A lot of those chip shots I was able to get up-and-down because I left it in the perfect spot, and that’s understanding how to play this golf course ... Most of the up-and-downs I had were in a perfect spot.”
Woods went through a stretch of six straight holes before the turn where he made nothing but birdies or bogeys, but he settled things on the back nine with a single bogey at the 14th – where his approach from 150 yards sailed into the gallery behind the green – and a two-putt birdie at the par-5 15th after clearing the pond with two booming shots.
Woods headed into the weekend likely to face a daunting deficit, with leader Bryson DeChambeau at 7 under with three holes remaining.
But Woods, of course, still thinks he has a chance to equal Jack Nicklaus’ record of six green jackets.
“I’m right there,” he said. “I don’t think anyone is going to run off and hide right now, but it’s really bunched. The way the ball is moving on the greens, chip shots are being blown, it’s all you want in a golf course.”