Wearing dark clothing, the 46-year-old American star kicked off his second round at 1:42 p.m. local time (same time as Paraguay) forming a group again with the young Chilean Joaquín Niemann, fourth in the standings.
The other golfer in the group on Thursday, South African Louis Oosthuizen, withdrew before the round due to injury.
In cold, windy weather at Augusta National, Georgia, Tiger teed off a bunker on his way to bogey the first hole.
While thousands of fans applauded the arrival of their idol, the South Korean Sungjae Im was overtaken in the provisional leadership of the tournament by the Englishman Danny Willett and the Spanish Jon Rahm trying to make up ground.
This Friday, Tiger Woods will undergo a new examination of his recovery from the serious injuries sustained in the brutal car accident in February 2021.
On Thursday, the Californian stunned the sports world with one of his epic comebacks, being one of just 17 players (out of 90) capable of paring the demanding course.
With a card of 71 shots (-1), Woods finished in the group in tenth position, four shots behind the leader Sungjae Im, and with all the options alive in the face of his desired assault on a sixth green jacket, with which he would match Jack Nicklaus record.
The key for Tiger, who competes with pain in his right leg, will be recovering from the daily effort of traversing the 6.8 kilometers of undulating course.
On Thursday, Woods moved a bit slowly during the course, leaning on poles to climb a few hills.
“I’m right where I need to be,” Woods said at the end of the day. “I will be sore. So are the things”.
“But the training cycles we’ve had ensure me the stamina to keep going. We have three more left. There is a long way to go and many shots to play, ”he assured. “This field is going to change and it’s going to get much more difficult.”
A few weeks ago, Woods himself believed it was unlikely to compete in the first Grand Slam of the year. The collision, when he was driving his SUV at almost 140 km/h, caused multiple fractures in his right leg that led doctors to consider amputation.
To a physique already battered by a dozen back and knee surgeries, the veteran idol now adds the difficulties with his right leg, repaired with rods, plates and screws, after almost a month in hospital and months without being able to walk.
For Woods, the Masters is the most iconic stage of his legendary career, where 25 years ago he opened a new era in golf with the first of his 15 Grand Slam titles.
In 2019, after 11 years without raising a major trophy, he signed one of the great sporting resurrections by winning his fifth Masters.
– Fight for the lead –
At the top of the leaderboard, Sungjae Im was struggling to hold on to the coveted lead at the Masters.
The first South Korean to lead the tournament in history, Sungjae Im stumbled at the start of his run with three bogeys and two birdies in 13 holes that left him with a cumulative -4.
With the same balance was the English Willett, after his first two holes, and the Australian Cameron Smith, who has not yet started his second round.
Just one stroke behind was a group with the young Chilean Joaquín Niemann, who had a fabulous performance on Thursday alongside Tiger, and the American Scottie Scheffler, number one in the PGA ranking.
The Spanish Jon Rahm, world number two, had a hopeful start to the day after his frustrating first round (+2).
Rahm chained two birdies on the first two holes but then bogeyed on the fifth that kept him in a distant 25th place five shots off the lead.
Dreaming of being the fourth Spaniard to succeed at Augusta, Rahm is one of five golfers who could take the world number one spot from Scottie Scheffler, who has been on the throne for just two weeks.
