Woods struggles to find fairways in opening round of Masters

Tiger Woods headed back to the practice facility soon after his round Thursday.

Woods sprayed his driver throughout the first round of the Masters Tournament en route to an even-par 72. It marked his worst opening round since 2008, when he finished second.

“Yeah, I made some bad swings. That’s fine,” Woods said. “But my commitment to each and every shot and what I was doing – my alignment, my setup – that’s something I’m excited about.”

With Woods coming off his momentum-grabbing win at Bay Hill two weeks earlier, oddsmakers installed him as the tournament favorite.

He seemed like the Ti­ger of old after birdies at Nos. 8 and 10 moved him to 2-under.

In his bid to win a fifth green jacket, Woods got derailed because of his driver. He hit just six of 18 fairways, including a miss left at the par-5 15th that led to par. He closed with a pair of wayward left drives on Nos. 17 and 18 that led to bogeys.

Woods said he had a bad warmup, hitting some loose shots on the practice range. He said his pre-round routine carried over.

“I warmed up bad and it continued to the golf course,” he said. “I just felt my way around. I really grinded.

“I could’ve maybe got one, maybe two more out of that. But that was about it. Today I squeezed a lot out of that round.”

Woods made birdie on the short third hole but gave it back at No. 7 because of mud on his ball. He tried to hit a cut-shot approach, but the ball hooked 20 yards. The shot led to his first bogey.

Woods said he’s still in contention. Besides, he added, no one’s running away with the tournament.

“This golf (course) is playing too difficult to go super low on,” Woods said. “No one’s tearing it up.”