Thousands of fans pile in to watch Tiger Woods swing in and kick off his Masters campaign as the icon birdies the sixth hole

Thousands of fans flocked to see Tiger Woods kick off his Masters campaign in Augusta on Thursday, and they got what they paid for.

Woods drilled ten feet for the par first after his approach backed off the front of the green.

He was unable to convert an 18-foot birdie attempt at par five seconds, but was just one step away from a lead shared by six players.

Woods thought he had birdied his first of the day on the tricky fifth, a hole he bogeyed every round in 2019.

Her 15-foot putt seemed right on the line and Woods was already moving to pick up the ball when she grabbed the edge of the hole and extended.

He didn’t have to wait long to get into the red numbers, a superb tee shot on the par-three sixth landing just two feet from the hole to set up a birdie tap-in.

He’s looking to build on his latest triumph at Augusta National, where he won his 15th major title in 2019, 3,954 days since winning his previous one.

And this despite a double stress fracture and a knee injury which led to a season-ending operation.

This year, it was the serious leg injuries suffered in a car accident 14 months ago that seriously compromised his participation in the Masters.

But Woods had once again defied the odds to take his place on the pitch and insisted he believed he could earn a sixth green jacket.

Speaking after fulfilling his duties as honorary starter alongside Gary Player and Tom Watson, Jack Nicklaus said: “I’m sure Tiger will be very competitive this week.

“I don’t know if he can win or not. He hasn’t played competitively for a long time.

“When you haven’t played competitively in a long time, you tend not to be as sharp mentally.

“But I would never blame Tiger for his mental acumen because I think Tiger, mentally, is fantastic.”