His third shot landed past the hole and left him with a downhill, 20-foot par putt that he missed left.
Instead, Woods faltered early and fell as many as 10 shot behind the leader in the second round. And with a tough, back-right, hole location, he goes deep, running through the green.
Woods then made six straight pars before again finding water at the 12th, getting up and down for bogey. Poof, the lead was gone.
The golf world has been looking forward to Woods' return, and expectations could not have been higher for him stepping into the first tee box at Augusta National. Nobody is better at understanding the rhythms of 72-hole events.
"Yes, I considered other options", he said.
Distance control remains an issue for Tiger.
This thought proved prescient. Caddie Michael Greller walked far ahead of him, and surely Spieth's mind was churning.
First-round leader Jordan Spieth is struggling. It's such a hard golf course to play catch up on. "My practice sessions have been really, really good", he added.
That is the least surprising conversation I've heard anyone have all week. Spieth knows how to substantially win and he understands how to topple this course.
Patrick Reed took a two-shot lead Friday at the Masters after firing the low round of the day to get to 9-under par. Spieth made birdies at Nos.
He could be saying the same about this week with another couple of rounds like the one he had Friday. Spieth asked in his presser before delivering an answer. I was a little anxious the rest of the round, and that was kind of the case.
He knew it on that walk to No. 2.
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Press secretary Sarah Sanders told CNN Thursday the White House does "not have any plans for personnel changes at this time". However, DeGette sent a letter of her own Thursday to the EPA watchdog to investigate the scandals swirling around Pruitt.
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He added: "There is some extra pressure on us to do extremely well in this competition but that's part of being where we are". Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger has refused to comment on the mooted transfer of CSKA Moscow striker Aleksandar Golovin.
With some breathing room from the cutline, Woods was just over the green in two at the par-5 15th.
No. 8: Tiger smokes his driver at the uphill, par-5 eighth and the ball rolls just into the second cut. I mean nobody (OK, Reed was scoring, but nobody else). Oh, and he has the fourth-best scoring average in Masters history. He seems content just being able to play without pain, for however long that lasts. "My game plan has gotten me to this point, and I have 36 more holes to stick to my game plan". A who's who of ball-striking fiends. They give the second half of the first page of the leaderboard all the juice it needs.
Swedish star Henrik Stenson is third on the leaderboard after he shot a solid round of 70, which sees him line up in round three on -5, while a shot back from him is his Ryder Cup teammate Rory McIlroy, who had a relatively uneventful round of golf, but at -4 the Northern Irishman will feel there's more to come. Before going to pick it up, he kicked his bag for good measure.
Despite leading nearby Augusta State to back-to-back NCAA titles in 2010-11, Reed hasn't enjoyed the same success at the home of the Masters. He terrifies me in every way.
"It has been awesome this entire comeback", said Woods, 42. That could set the stage for a frenzied finish at Augusta National Golf Club. He finished at five over and made the cut on the number.
"There was plenty of gap", Mickelson said. I could have easily let the round slip away from me, but I got it back.
"That's all I'm doing".
Leishman seized on his moment with the best shot of the day. He has nearly as many cuts as I have trips around the sun.
More winds and cooler conditions are expected Saturday along with rain.
Playing in the same group as Woods, Leishman shot 67 to earn his spot in the final group.
Top-ranked Dustin Johnson and 2017 PGA Championship victor Justin Thomas were on 141.
