The Masters 2024: Tiger Woods cards opening-round 73 after two late bogeys at Augusta National

12 April 2024, 13:02 | Updated: 12 April 2024, 19:40

Tiger Woods made a messy finish to his opening round at The Masters, as playing partner Max Homa closed on the early lead at Augusta National.

Thunderstorms caused a two-and-a-half-hour delay to the start of the opening major of the year on Thursday, leaving 27 players having to return early on Friday morning to complete their first round.

Woods, making his first competitive start since withdrawing mid-round from February's Genesis Invitational and just his seventh event since November 2020, impressed on the opening day but struggled in cooler conditions when play resumed just after 7.50am local time (12.50pm BST).

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The five-time Masters champion bogeyed two of his remaining five holes to close a one-over 73, leaving him eight strokes behind clubhouse leader Bryson DeChambeau and with work to do to make a record-breaking 24th consecutive cut at the event.

Tough morning for Tiger

Woods resumed at the 14th hole on one under, six shots behind DeChambeau, only to immediately lose ground when he missed the green with his approach from the fairway and started his day with a bogey.

He got up and down from the back of the par-five 15th green to save par and two-putted to par the 16th, with the 48-year-old leaving short a birdie opportunity at the 17th before carding a bogey at the par-four last after finding a greenside bunker.

The 15-time major champion had just over 45 minutes to recover before his second round was due to begin, with Woods now focused on continuing his streak of making the cut every time he has played The Masters as a professional.

Woods' playing partner Max Homa briefly threatened DeChambeau's clubhouse lead when back-to-back birdies from the 15th moved him alongside world No 1 Scottie Scheffler in tied-second, only for him to bogey the last and drop back to five under.

Homa shares third spot with Denmark's Nicolai Hojgaard, who equalled the lowest round by a European on their Masters debut, while several star names made shocking finishes to the opening rounds.

Jordan Spieth was on one over with five holes to play before following a bogey at the 14th with an ugly quadruple-bogey nine on the par-five next, with the three-time major champion stumbling to a seven-over 79, while reigning Open winner Brian Harman produced a back-nine 47 and dropped seven shots over his final three holes in a nine-over 81.

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