Tour Confidential: How will an early, wet, back-nine tee time affect Tiger Woods’ Masters start?

Check in each day of this week’s Masters for the unfiltered opinions of our writers and editors as they break down the hottest topic in the tournament, and join the conversation by tweeting us @golf_com. 

Tiger Woods (finally) begins his Masters defense at 7:55 a.m. ET off the 10th tee at Augusta National on Thursday. It will be low 70s with a 90 percent chance of rain. How much will an early and wet (and back-nine beginning) tee time affect Woods’ chances?

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Alan Shipnuck, senior writer (@alanshipnuck): He’s going to have to get up at, what, 3:30 to begin his pre-round routine? At least it will be pretty warm. The real issue is a long, soft golf course – Tiger no longer qualifies as a bomber, so he will be at a disadvantage. The key is getting through the brutal first three holes because then the next nine offer lots of birdie chances.

Josh Sens, senior writer (@JoshSens): It’s like they always say: The Masters starts on the back nine on Thursday. If he’d had his druthers, I doubt this is the hour or the tee Woods would have chosen to start his tournament. But I also don’t see it having any serious impact on his chances. This is not some mentally fragile weekend golfer we’re talking about. It’s Tiger Woods. He’s not going to let the time of day, order of holes or dampness of the fairways affect his mindset. He’ll either have his A-game or he won’t, and he’ll grind his heart out either way. If he makes a bogey or two, he’ll just think: Still plenty of time to get those shots back – to the extent that he dwells on it at all.

Jessica Marksbury, multimedia editor (@Jess_Marksbury): I agree, Josh. I think Tiger will be fine. It’s not like the 1st hole is a much easier way to start a round anyway. Depending on the weather, we’ll see if this thing even gets going on time. Worst-case scenario would be the early guys like Tiger battling it out in the driving rain for a while before play gets called, which would give the later tee times a significant advantage. 

Sean Zak, senior editor (@sean_zak): Eh, I think Tiger will be just … fine. He’ll perform just fine. As in he’ll make three birdies and three bogeys and be a little peeved about shooting 72. 

Nick Piastowski, senior editor (@nickpia): I mean, sure, a little. But it’s not like the man hasn’t played early before, hasn’t played in rain before and hasn’t played more difficult holes early before. And let’s not forget: He’ll tee off No. 1 at noon ET for Friday’s second round, when the leaderboard will be more established and he’ll have an idea of what he needs to do.  

Josh Berhow, managing editor (@Josh_Berhow): I was just gonna say what Nick did. Not an ideal starting hole and time, but on the bright side, it sets up nicely for Friday. He’ll have a good idea of what the 36-hole number will be, and he’ll be in the third-to-last group for the second round. And if he gets hot, then he can put up some gaudy numbers on holes like 13, 15, 16, etc., giving him some nice momentum into the weekend. First few holes will be important on Thursday morning.