AUGUSTA, Ga. >> The large gallery of patrons following Tiger Woods spent a part of Thursday’s opening round ducking for cover.

When Woods was on the tee with a driver in his hand nobody felt too comfortable because golf balls were flying around in every direction imaginable. Woods found the fairway a little over half the time, leading to a meager 11 of 18 greens in regulation — not the kind of numbers needed to be fitted for a green jacket.

Not that Woods disappeared from the scene as defending champion Sergio Garcia did with a 13 on the 15th hole en route to a 9-over 81. Woods at least kept it together well enough to finish with a 1-over 73 and a tie for 29th entering today’s second round.

The 82nd Masters began on a chilly note as a cold front swept through Wednesday night, leaving ideal conditions at Augusta National for those who braved the early-morning traffic. Gary Player and Jack Nicklaus kept their honorary degrees intact, delighting the overflow crowd gathered at the first tee to see these past champions’ opening drives.

A variety of golfers flirted with the opening-day lead, including Vijay Singh, Marc Leishman, Adam Hadwin, Henrik Stenson, Charley Hoffman and Tony Finau, before Jordan Spieth settled at the top with a 6-under 66. But as well as the leaders played, most of the interest among the overflow crowd at Augusta National was centered on Woods.

Even though he hasn’t won here since 2005, Woods is still the main event.

You couldn’t move his gallery with a pitchfork, much less a pitching wedge as the patrons followed along with a keen interest in his every swing.

As you might expect for the injured star of the show, there were some dark moments, including bogeys at Nos. 11 and 12 at the heart of Amen Corner. It could have been a lot worse at both holes, but Woods managed a couple of nice putts to keep from dropping deeper into the pack.

He was under par briefly with a birdie at the par-4 third as the patrons let out a roar the MGM lion would have been proud to call his own. But back-to-back bogeys at four and five led to a front-side 37. Two more dropped shots at Amen Corner left Woods at 3 over through 12. He managed two birdies coming in at 14 and 16 to help ease the descent.

But those were offset somewhat with a pair of par 5s at Nos. 13 and 15 as Woods finished with a 36 on the back nine to keep within shouting distance of the leaders. He addressed the media afterward with a positive frame of mind in place.

“It felt great to be back out there again,” Woods said. “(The bogey save at 12) was very important. I just didn’t want to drop it to 4. I could have easily let the round slip away from me, but I got it back. And I’m right back in the tournament.”

As for those at the top, Spieth is the class act of that gathering. He had five consecutive birdies on the back nine and a bogey at the last to go with two birdies, two bogeys and an eagle on the front. There’s just something about this place that agrees with Spieth, who finally found his putting stroke that he’s been working on since his three-week stay in the Hawaiian islands three months ago.

In four previous appearances, Spieth has a second, a first, a second and a tie for 11th. It’s likely he will be hanging around at the end again on Sunday with a whole host of golfers possibly right there with him. Now, if only Woods was there to join him, the back nine on Sunday would be complete.

Star-Advertiser sports editor Paul Arnett will be reporting from the Masters this week.