Not his old self,better

Woods missed the putt and left the green with a bogey that put him at even par for the first round of the Masters.

To that point,Woods had not looked much like himself. He had backed off two putts and conversed little with his caddie or playing partners. The cold stare that had melted a thousand opponents seemed more like a dispassionate glance. His walk had more lilt and less march.

But on the eighth hole,it was as if Woods discovered his inner,or former,self. Blame the airplane,one of two that had trailed and teased him on Thursday. Or maybe an hour and a half into his new world,Woods decided that the unemotional approach was a great rehab idea gone bad on the course.

Whatever it was,Woods suddenly began playing with added fervour and swagger. He twirled his club after good swings and shot that pool hustlers grin at caddie Steve Williams. He brought back a modest fist pump,mouthed (inaudibly) at least one naughty word and let a club drop from his hands after a sloppy shot. He took risks,and guess what? The ball started rolling into the hole in fewer strokes again.

From the eighth hole on,Woods displayed,for him,a typical brand of dazzling golf. It felt like normal, said Woods,who finished with a four-under 68,his best first-round score at the Masters. Nothing different. I just went about my business.

The turnaround in his day clearly began when he sailed his second shot on the eighth hole to within 10 feet of the hole,then made the putt for eagle. On the ninth hole,Woods tried to cut the corner on the dogleg left par-4 a bit too aggressively and clipped a tree. Stuck in the rough with his path to the green blocked by a row of pine trees,Woods curved his second shot 15 yards from right to left to so that it landed on the green and came to rest 10 feet from the hole. Watching,Woods hopped thrice to his right,turned with a broad smile toward the gallery and pointed his right finger as if to say,I told you so.

When he made the birdie putt,Woods did not look like his old self. He looked better. A bogey on the 10th seemed a minor setback. He was charging through the pine tree and dogwood alleys,making birdie at the 13th hole to offset a bogey at the 14th. On the tricky par-5 15th,he stuck his 191-yard second shot 10 feet beyond the hole. When he stroked the putt with a familiar self-assurance,he raised his putter over his head even as it was two feet from the hole.

Woods was playing the course and the crowds by that point,falling to his knees when his birdie putt just missed the edge of the 16th hole. A routine par on the 17th preceded another spectacular approach shot to the 18th green.

But Woods missed a chance to add a last birdie when his five-foot putt lipped out. He left,nonetheless,to applause.

I felt in a rhythm by the end, he said. Im very pleased. I did some things really well. You know,if I had putted better,it could have been a special day.