After firing a round of two-under-par 70 on Thursday, Tiger Woods had some ground to make up at the Masters on Friday. He started off slowly with a string of three pars before electrifying the Augusta patrons with a birdie on the par-3 4th hole.
A bogey-and-birdie seesaw on subsequent holes brought him back to two under overall on the 9th tee. But then, the Big Cat closed his front nine in style by draining a massive birdie putt on No. 9.
Suddenly, the momentum seemed to be on his side. A par followed on 10, followed by yet another birdie on the notoriously difficult par-4 11th, the first of the day on that hole. On No. 12, Woods pured a 9-iron to about six feet to set up a very makable birdie putt to get to five under and just two shots back of the leaders. And did we mention he still has both par-5s remaining on the back side?
The atmosphere was charged — literally! But all of the sudden, the horn blew! Tiger’s momentum was stopped in its tracks. He could help but shake his head and smile as he tossed his putter back to caddie Joe LaCava and strode toward the Hogan Bridge to mark his ball.
A quick check of the radar showed a line of thunderstorms moving northeast over Augusta. Luckily, the delay lasted just under 30 minutes before the players were given the okay to resume play.
Unfortunately for Woods, he missed his short (but testy) birdie putt on 12 when he retuned to the green. The good news? Barring any further disruptions, Tiger and his group should be able to finish their rounds before it’s too dark. The bad news? We’ll never know what could have been had his run not been interrupted by the passing weather.
At four under par overall and two under par on the day, Woods is currently T10.
