Woods ‘very pleased’ with opening round

AUGUSTA, GA. — Tiger Woods’s opening round of 1-under-par 71 at the Masters on Thursday might seem unspectacular — three birdies, a pair of bogeys, no explosions and no disasters. But given the state of Woods’s game — in the midst of a swing change, with no finish better than a tie for 10th this year — he had to view it as a positive start.

“I’m very pleased,” he said. “I’m right there in the ballgame.”

Woods knows of what he speaks. In his four Masters victories, he opened with rounds of 70, 70, 70 and 74. Woods said Thursday might have been better – “Realistically, the round should have been probably 68 or 69,” he said — had a putt or two fallen.

“I hit a lot of beautiful putts,” Woods said. “They were just skirting the edge, so hopefully they will start going in.”

One putt, though, may have saved his round. After making consecutive bogeys at 10 and 11, Woods found the front bunker at the par-3 12th. “I was sitting in a hole,” he said, and his ensuing blast ran well past the hole. But he made that putt to save par, and he followed with birdies at 13 and 14.

Still Crenshaw’s caddie

When Ben Crenshaw won his two Masters, in 1984 and 1995, he had Carl Jackson, long a local looper, on his bag. This year, Jackson is again at Crenshaw’s side, caddying in his 50th Masters — the last 35 for Crenshaw.

“You’re going to have nerves, and I’m not afraid to say what I think, what I see, and I’m making a suggestion,” Jackson said. “If I’m wrong, I’m hurting more than he is.”

Jackson, 64, grew up in Augusta and worked atAugusta National for years before becoming a caddie master in Arkansas. But he returned to carry for Crenshaw, 59, who opened with a 78 Thursday.

“Our chemistry started right from the beginning,” Crenshaw said. . . .

Fairfax native and University of Virginia grad Steve Marino had a decent round going — even par through 11 holes — when he came to the 12th. His 8-iron, though, found the water, and the resulting triple bogey was the key moment in his opening 74 — which he closed with a birdie at 18.

“You can’t make a 6 on a par-3,” said Marino, in his second Masters. “For some reason, I just haven’t figured out this back nine.”