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April 7 (UPI) -- Tiger Woods told reporters that he was in "constant" pain during his first round at the 2023 Masters and that he was "sore" after his 2-over-par 74. Woods would need to play better Friday to avoid the cut. Woods' first round score was tied for 52nd on Thursday in Augusta, Ga. The players inside the Top 50 scores and ties after Friday's second round will advance to the third round Saturday at Augusta National Golf Club.
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"I feel like I drove it good," Woods said. "I just didn't do the job I needed to do to get the ball close."
Jon Rahm, Brooks Koepka and Viktor Hovland carded 7-under 65s to tie for the lead through their first 18 holes. Jason Day and Cameron Young shot 5-under and are tied for fourth.
Seven players, including world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler, carded 4-under 68s and are tied for sixth.
Woods, who played alongside Hovland and Xander Schauffele, made par on his first two holes. He went on to bogey Nos. 3, 5, 7, 11 and 18. Woods carded birdies on three of his final 11 holes.
"I didn't have very good speed early," Woods said. "I had two 3-putts and consequently a couple over par. But I didn't hit my irons close enough. I didn't give myself very good looks. I need to do a better job of that going forward and hopefully get myself back in this tournament."
Woods, 47, walked awkwardly and grimaced in pain several times during the round. On one occasion, he struggled to plant his foot in a bunker. He then hopped out of it on one leg after hitting his shot.
The onetime world No. 1 has limited mobility as the result of leg injuries he sustained during a 2021 single-car accident in Los Angeles. He has played just once on the PGA Tour since last July. He missed the cut at the British Open before he tied for 45th in February at the Genesis Invitational.
He told reporters Tuesday that he didn't know how many more Masters tournaments he will play.
The No. 1,001 player in the Official World Golf Ranking finished 47th at the 2022 Masters. He hasn't finished better than 38th at the tournament since his last win in 2019.
The 15-time major champion and five-time Masters winner hasn't missed a cut at the tournament since 1996.
Woods, Hovland and Schauffele were initially scheduled to tee off at 1:24 p.m. EDT Friday. Their tee times, as well as those of the remainder of the 86-player field, were rescheduled for a half-hour earlier to compensate for rain predicted later in the day.
Woods said that golfers attempted to card the lowest scores possible Thursday, which they expected to be the day with the best course conditions.
"[Thursday] was the opportune time to get the round under par and I didn't do that," Woods said. "Most of the guys were going low. That was the day to do it. Hopefully [on Friday], I will be a little bit sharper and inch my way through it.
"This is going to be an interesting finish to the tournament, with the weather coming in."
The second round will air on TV from 3 to 7:30 p.m. Friday on ESPN.
Jose Maria Olazabal and Cameron Champ were the first group out of the clubhouse Friday morning. They teed off at 7:30 a.m. Koepka, Gary Woodland and Danny Willett teed off at 8:18 a.m. Rahm, Justin Thomas and Cameron Young will tee off at 1:18 p.m.
Cameron Smith, Hideki Matsuyama and Sungjae Im are scheduled to tee off at 1:30 p.m. in the final group of the second round. Rain is expected to fall Friday afternoon in Augusta.
