Tiger Woods getting started in Round 2 at the Masters

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AUGUSTA, Ga. – The sun is shining this morning at Augusta National. The air is crisp.

And Tiger Woods is less than 15 minutes from his tee time – 735 Pacific time.

Woods played a near flawless first round, breaking 70 (with a shot to spare) for the first time ever on Thursday in the Masters.

By his count, Woods hit only one loose shot – a hooked approach on No. 14. And his recovery pitch was almost good enough to allow him to save par.

“There were no glaring weaknesses,” said playing partner Matt Kuchar, who will join Woods again this morning, along with K.J. Choi. “Everything was good. The driver … recovery shots. Every time he was in trouble, his recovery shots were amazing.”

Yeah, Woods knows a thing or two about recovery. If you were in his gallery yesterday at Augusta National, you never would have known that his life had been in turmoil heading into this event.

If Woods had putted well Thursday – he needed 31, seven more than tournament leader Fred Couples – he could have had a “very special round,” as he said. Way better than his 4-under 68.

Here’s guessing that the only who slept better than Woods did last night were officials from CBS Sports.

That network holds the rights to Saturday and Sunday play at the Masters, and Woods’ opening-round 68 means that he’s primed to be in contention this weekend.

Woods in contention will mean jumbo ratings for CBS, possibly breaking the all-time high for a golf event: The 1997 Masters, Woods’ coronation. That final round drew 14.1 percent of U.S. households.

--Teddy Greenstein