Maybe the start was just a little too perfect.

Bright sunshine, enraptured spectators and one or two magical moments, that was Tiger Woods' first round at the US Masters on Thursday - on Friday everything looked more like a difficult everyday golf routine, even for the superstar.

The wind whistled across the facility in Augusta, Woods played a total of six bogeys.

The Masters comeback a good 13 months after the serious car accident is as complicated as it sounds.

"It was stormy," Woods later said, "it was windy, all turbulent.

I got a few nasty gusts and made a few bad swings.” And so the five-time tournament winner slipped down the rankings, a 74 on the par 72 course was only enough for 19th place.

Top result is still there

The sixth triumph at Magnolia Lane, the sporting miracle, is a long way off.

The gap to the top was nine strokes, the world number one Scottie Scheffler pulled away on Friday with an outstanding 67.

With 136 strokes at halftime, Scheffler had a Masters record lead of five strokes over a four-man chasing group with last year's Japanese winner Hideki Matsuyama.

A top result is still possible for Woods, for which he worked hard on Friday.

After the first holes of the day it even seemed as if he could miss the cut after his acclaimed 71 from the day before.

"What can go wrong now," he then thought, "and then I came back into the game."

That alone is quite remarkable.

After the crash in February 2021, Woods finally feared for his right leg, and it still hurts today.

After every lap in Augusta, he therefore places himself in the hands of his physiotherapists.

"After I wreck my body during the day, they take over and fix it overnight," he says.

Woods is now in the game through Sunday and he still wants to do something special: “Hopefully I can get an enlightened moment and be able to make it, still shoot it.

Anything can happen on the last nine holes.”

The German veteran Bernhard Langer, on the other hand, is no longer there for the two final rounds.

The two-time Masters champion needed 76 shots for the second round, missing the cut 40 years after his Augusta National Golf Club debut.

He was eight shots over par.