Tiger Woods produced an impressive back nine recovery to save his return to competitive action at the Memorial Tournament.
Woods, a five-time winner at Muirfield Village, got off to a sluggish in his first competitive appearance since the Players Championship four weeks ago, but bounced back with three birdies on his back nine to close a first round 73 and stay within six shots of the early leaders.
The world No 172 had told reporters ahead of his return that he had “more confidence” in his game than at Sawgrass last month, but was noticeably frustrated as he reached the turn with an error-strewn 40.
"I was just trying to stay committed to what we're working on, to what we're doing," Woods said. "I hit it awful, yeah. So what? I was going to go through this phase and stick with it, keep sticking with it.
"Some of the shots I hit were really, really good. But then I also had some really bad shots, too. And we need to work on that. Physically, I feel good. Mentally I feel beat up."
Beginning at the tenth as part of the early morning featured group, Woods sent his opening tee-shot in to rough and left his second short of the green in the bunker, eventually two-putting from 12 feet for bogey.
The former world No 1 dropped another shot at the next after finding the water from the fairway, before posting a third bogey of the round after another wayward tee-shot at the 13th.
Woods nudged in a seven-foot birdie putt and the 14th and picked up a second gain at the short 16th when he fired to within five feet of the flag, but slipped back after missing a nine foot par-save at the following hole.
The damage came at the 18th, when Woods lost his cool and swung his club in anger after putting his first drive out of bounds. His second effort saw minimal improvement, as Woods racked up a double-bogey to drop to four over.
Things improved in the second half of Woods’ round, with a 20-foot birdie at the second his first of three birdies on the front nine.
Woods saved par at the fifth despite over-hitting his tee shot in to trees, before a lengthy putt at the sixth was turned in to back-to-back gains from much closer range at the next.
After leaving another birdie chance at the eighth inches short and tapping in for par, Woods closed the round by running a lengthy putt past the cup and saving par from four-feet.
Ryan Moore, Ken Duke and Brendon Todd set the early clubhouse pace with five-under 67s, with Woods’ playing partners Jason Day and Patrick Reed both ending the first round level par.
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