Time away hasn't changed Woods

What 20-week self-imposed leave of absence from competition to deal with the fallout of his sex scandal? When viewers tuned into the first round of the Masters yesterday if was as if the aforementioned leave of absence never occurred. Tiger Woods eagled the eighth hole as ESPN's coverage began. One hole later in gusting winds, he hit an incredible second shot that hooked its way onto the ninth green and led to a birdie. It was as if he had never left.

Woods made the turn with a career-best 33 at Augusta National on his way to a 4-under-par 68, two shots back of first-round leader Fred Couples. It marked the first time in Woods' career that he posted a first-round score at the Masters in the 60s. As the action unfolded, ESPN commentator Curtis Strange used the phrase "business as usual" several times when offering his thoughts on Woods' play. This should be very disconcerting to the rest of the field.

Fears that Woods might face some heckling from the gallery were misplaced. Woods gambled correctly that patrons of the Masters would not engage in that kind of behavior. He was warmly welcomed and embraced with the respect one would expect is due a four-time Masters champion. He did seem to make a conscious effort to acknowledge the support he was receiving from the gallery. He smiled and tipped his cap more often. Only time will tell if it was just obligatory in nature or coming from the heart.

It would appear that Tiger hasn't changed his stripes much in terms of being able to play the game or controlling his emotions. He twirled his club after a good drive, slammed it after a few bad ones. He pumped his fist after making the first of two eagles and sunk to his knees when he missed a birdie putt on the 16th that slowed his climb up the leader board.

There also was a moment on the 14th hole when Woods yanked his second shot left of the green, leading to a bogey. His immediate reaction was similar to those in the past when he didn't like the result of one of his shots. He dropped a G-bomb in a fit of anger before catching himself in just the kind of behavior he vowed he was going to try to clean up. The television announcing team seemed oblivious to the misdeed and acted as if it never happened. ESPN's Mike Tirico had the chance to call Tiger out on the matter in an interview from the Butler Cabin after the round but didn't pull the trigger.

Instead we heard Tiger, who missed short birdie putts on Nos. 12 and 18, complaining about not making enough putts, a familiar theme from the past.

"Otherwise, it could have been a very special round," Woods said.

Yet it was special for reasons not involving Woods. Couples, 50, sauntered along in skateboarder shoes and no socks and shot his best score ever at the Masters in becoming the oldest player to be the outright leader for any round. Tom Watson, at 60 the oldest player in the field, picked up from his amazing near-miss at last year's British Open with a bogey-free round of 67 that left him tied with Lee Westwood, Phil Mickelson, PGA champion Y.E. Yang and K.J. Choi.

The leader board promises to produce an exciting second round with numerous attractive storylines. It should be fun watching them unfold.

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Information from the Associated Press contributed to this post.