Tiger Woods passes test on his very first hole with a great recovery shot

Tiger Woods is playing golf in front of TV cameras for the first time in 466 days. We’re going to dissect his every shot, step, reaction, and move ... especially at the beginning. Golf Channel is in a pregame show that’s really just the Tiger hour as they show his shots with corresponding analysis from their studio people.

The biggest test Tiger might face this week was the opening hole. Even the 14-time major winner had to be a little tight and sweating that first tee ball in 15 months. Woods is notorious for missing the fairway on his opening holes — it seems to happen every year at the Masters. He pulled this one too and it landed in an awkward lie down the left side of the hole.

The drive left him in an unenviable spot. He had a hanging lie and would need to pump it out of the thick stuff. It’s the kind of scenario in recent years where we’d worry he might clutch his back. Woods went after it and hit a perfect recovery shot to get on his first green in regulation.

His birdie putt would slide just past the edge, but leave him a nice and easy tap-in par for his first hole back. Given the wayward tee shot, and the fact that it’s been 466 days, it’s a good start.