The 46-year-old American, winner of fifteen Majors, hit his first ball on the legendary course at 11:05 a.m. local time (5:05 p.m. French, 3:05 p.m. GMT), half an hour later than expected due to thunderstorms at dawn. , which was briefly followed by drizzle.

In his group are the South African Louis Oosthuizen and the Chilean Joaquin Niemann who was not born when he won his first Masters in 1997.

Woods will try, after 17 months without playing - his last tournament was the 2020 edition of the Masters postponed to November due to the Covid-19 - to win a sixth title there to equal the record of his glorious elder Jack Nicklaus, who gave kicking off with another former winner Tom Watson.

First all dressed in black, shoes, adapted to his needs and which are not from his usual equipment supplier, to the cap, through the pants and a light sweater, he ended up revealing a collared t-shirt rising tight to the fuchsia pink neck and a particularly muscular upper part of his body.

American golfer Tiger Woods on the green during the first round of the Augusta Masters on April 7, 2022 in Augusta, Georgia, USA JAMIE SQUIRE GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA/AFP

"A difficult path"

But it was his right leg that attracted all eyes, as he went from the practice to the first three holes, for a final warm-up, not without having to stop often on the way because from anonymous to stars of the little white ball , all wanted to greet the returning hero.

In Augusta where he has always crossed the cut and where he knows every nook and cranny, Woods knows that the terrain will be his main difficulty.

And his first challenge will be to go the distance over four laps.

He had narrowly avoided amputation, after his exit from the road on February 23, 2021 near Los Angeles, for the multiple open fractures which required him to insert a metal rod in the tibia, and screws to consolidate the bones of the foot. and ankle.

Woods had been hospitalized for weeks and unable to walk for months.

"It was a difficult path. Coming back to play here seemed very unlikely to me at the time," he said at a press conference on Tuesday.

American golfer Tiger Woods on the green during the first round of the Augusta Masters, in the middle of a compact crowd who came to admire him, on April 7, 2022 in Augusta, Georgia, United States JAMIE SQUIRE GETTY IMAGES NORTH AMERICA / AFP

But the Tiger, the body already bruised by an incalculable number of injuries, has once again been able to get up, to achieve a return that no one expected so fast in Augusta, where he will be the 973rd in the world the most scrutinized and the most feared. Of the history.

Especially since Woods warned: "I don't show up to a tournament if I don't think I can win it."

© 2022 AFP