AUGUSTA, Ga. (AP) – The man was so darned agreeable from tee to green you half-expected his post-round interview to begin:
“Thank you, ladies and gentlemen, I’m Tiger Woods and I’ll be here all week. Don’t forget to tip your server.”
If you thought Woods conducted himself like a recent charm-school graduate at a few Masters events earlier this week, you should have seen him Friday, when he finally put together a round of golf worth getting warm and fuzzy over. He laughed a lot, worked the crowd, chipped the ball reasonably well, and even cracked the occasional joke.
Shooting 69 will do that for a tortured soul, especially since that was the best number Woods has posted at Augusta National since the final round in 2011. It was miles better than anything in his only two outings in 2015: a missed cut at Phoenix and first-round withdrawal at Torrey Pines.
“All you gotta do is believe!” a fan along the ropes shouted as Woods strode to the ninth tee after back-to-back birdies.