MASTERS TOURNAMENT

April 7, 2022

Tiger Woods

Butler Cabin

Q. Three birdies and two bogeys for the five-time champion. I want to ask about your round in a moment, but considering everything that's transpired over the last 14 months, how would you describe your emotions leading to that first shot on the 1st tee this morning?

TIGER WOODS: Well, I did not have a very good warmup at all. I hit it awful. As my dad said, did you accomplish your task? Did you warm up? I said yes. Now go play. That's exactly what I did. I blocked it out and felt, hey, I'm warm. Go play. Let's just go get it done. You know where to put it. Execute each shot.

As the round built, I was able to get into the red. I got out of there and got to even-par but made two stupid mistakes at 8 back-to-back, loss of concentration a little bit there, but I fought back. For the day, to end up in the red, I'm right where I need to be.

Q. With that said, what was this opening round able to tell you about your game and your body that the practice rounds couldn't?

TIGER WOODS: Well, I've been saving it, that's the thing. I came up here as a test run to see if I could, and I was able to play, as I said in the press conference, 27 holes because we went and played the Par 3 contest. I felt good.

The whole idea was to keep pushing but keep recovering, and that's the hard part is each and every night to recover, and I've been doing that. My team's been incredible, getting me ready.

I figure once the adrenaline kicks in and we get fired up and I get into my little world, I should be able to handle business.

Q. You've got an afternoon tee time tomorrow. What will the next 16 to 18 hours look like for you?

TIGER WOODS: Lots of ice (laughter).