Tiger Woods shoots 68 in rousing Masters return

AUGUSTA, Ga. – Tiger Woods shot a 4-under-par 68 Thursday, his best score ever on the first day of the Masters despite a five-month layoff tied to a sex scandal. Woods made eagles at the eighth and 15th holes — the first time he's had multiple eagles in a Masters round. Also, he had never started with a score lower than 70 until Thursday, when he put himself just two strokes behind the surprising leader, 50-year-old Fred Couples. "Why play if you don't think you're going to win?" Woods said. "If I don't think I can win, I won't enter the event." The world's No. 1 player is off to a good start for his fifth green jacket, and his score could have been even lower. He lipped out four putts. Still, no complaints after being away from the game so long and enduring plenty of ridicule over his personal life, which fell apart after a Thanksgiving night car crash led to revelations of multiple extramarital affairs. Even so, he heard nothing but cheers from the Augusta National fans. "It was unbelievable, the whole day," Woods said. "The people, I haven't heard them cheer this loud in all my years coming here. It certainly helped keep my spirits up." — AP