Tiger scrambled through the 1st round at the Masters. That’s good.

We know he’s “back,” but a first round where he makes the best of a bad day is a very positive thing.

It’s said you can’t win the Masters on Thursday, but you can lose it. Tiger Woods certainly did not do the latter with a first round score of 1-over for a 73 on the day.

When Woods was at his peak, he grinded better than anyone else. When he didn’t have his A-game, he would still at least flirt with not-bad scores and it’s a big reason why one of his claims to fame is the epic string of made cuts.

Woods was not sharp in this first round. During the Florida swing in March he was deadly with his irons, but not so much on Thursday. Same with the driver, which was the biggest story heading into this tournament. If he was going to win, he’d have to hit the big stick consistently well and that’s not something he’d done exceptionally well throughout the arc of his career, whether he was on top of the world or not.

He had three birdies on the day, including one at No. 3.

But if you take the four par-5s on the course, both his irons and the driver coalesce to tell the story of the round, and even he’ll tell you that.

He spanked drives at No. 2 and No. 8, but made par. He hit his tee shots on 13 and 15 into pine straw, and for good measure put a second shot into the patrons too. But he ended up parring those holes as well.

Woods made a bogey from the fringe on 12 that he absolutely had to have. It could have easily have been a double and started Woods going the wrong way on the scorecard. He had a big birdie on 16 in a spot where he needed something positive out of the final three holes.

When it was all over, he had kept it between the navigational beacons on the day. There was some up, and there was some down, but he didn’t play himself out of the tournament on Thursday. That’s something to build off of going forward if he hopes to capture a fifth Green Jacket, and another sign that he’s “back.”