Tiger Woods had been on the golf course Thursday for about 90 minutes. If he had experienced first-tee jitters in his comeback to competitive golf after a five-month layoff, it did not show. He had received subdued but warm applause from the Augusta National gallery. As promised, he did not fling his club after an early, poor shot, nor did he do his trademark one-fisted tango after a birdie on the third hole. But Woods had a 6-foot par putt on the seventh hole. And as he prepared to putt, over his left shoulder an airplane flew by dragging a mocking message: 'Sex addict? Yeah. Right. Sure. Me Too!' Woods missed the putt and left the green with a bogey that put him at even par for the first round of the Masters. To that point, Woods had not looked much like himself. He had backed off two putts and conversed little with his caddie or playing partners. The cold stare that had melted a thousand opponents now seemed more like a dispassionate glance. His walk had more lilt and less march. He appeared more mortal than ever. Even his golf bag had been neutralized, missing the bravado of a paid logo since AT&T deserted him. But on the eighth hole, it was as if Woods discovered his inner, or former, self. Blame the airplane, one of two that had trailed and teased him Thursday. Or maybe an hour and a half into his new world, Woods decided that the unemotional approach was a great rehab idea gone bad on the course -- a failed clinical experiment. Whatever it was, Woods suddenly began playing with added fervor and swagger. He confidently twirled his club after good swings and shot that pool hustler's grin at the caddie Steve Williams. He brought back a modest fist pump, mouthed (inaudibly) at least one naughty word and let a club drop from his hands after a sloppy shot. He took risks, and guess what? The ball started rolling into the hole in fewer strokes again. From the eighth hole on, Woods displayed, for him, a typical brand of dazzling golf. 'It felt like normal,' said Woods, who finished with a four-under-par 68, his best first-round score at the Masters. 'Nothing different. I just went about my business.' Woods said he had heard no negative comments from the fans and thanked them for their support. 'It was business as usual,' he said. 'It was a lot of fun.' And he was two strokes off the lead, trailing his friend Fred Couples, who had eased Woods back as a companion during Woods' first official practice round on Monday. Before too much is made of Woods' start, it is worth noting -- as Woods did several times -- that 31 players were under par Thursday. Perhaps to welcome back Woods, or to make up for the club chairman Billy Payne's harsh rebuke a day earlier, the tees had been moved up on nearly every hole. A steady rain helped as well, softening the greens. For Woods, the turnaround in his day clearly began when he sailed his second shot on the eighth hole to within 10 feet of the hole, then made the putt for eagle. It was also when he unveiled his first, abbreviated right fist pump. On the ninth hole, playing in a steady rain, Woods tried to cut the corner on the dogleg left par-4 a bit too aggressively and clipped a tree on the left side. Stuck in the rough with his path to the green blocked by a row of pine trees, Woods did the unimaginable, curving his second shot a looping 15 yards from right to left to so that it landed on the uphill green and came to rest 10 feet from the hole. Watching that shot, Woods hopped once, twice and three times to his right, an enthusiastic dance for a stellar shot. He then turned with a broad smile toward the gallery and pointed his right finger in their direction as if to say, 'I told you so.' When he made the birdie putt, Woods, who had never shot better than 70 in a first round of the Masters, did not look like his old self. He looked better. A bogey on the 10th hole seemed a minor setback, especially after solid pars on the next two difficult holes of Amen Corner. He was leaving himself birdie putts on every hole and doffing his hat to crowds that were no longer politely greeting him but loudly cheering him. He may no longer be a role model to the crowds that follow him, and he may yet see more airplanes following him, but Woods, the four-time Masters champion, was charging through the pine tree and dogwood alleys, making birdie at the 13th hole to offset a bogey at the 14th to remain two under par. On the tricky and pivotal par-5 15th hole, Woods made the difficult seem simple, sticking his 191-yard second shot about 10 feet beyond the hole. When he stroked that putt with a familiar self-assurance, he raised his putter over his head even as it was 2feet from the hole, as if the outcome were preordained. Woods was playing the course and the crowds by that point, falling to his knees when his birdie putt just missed the edge of the 16th hole. A routine par on the deceptive 17th hole preceded another spectacular approach shot to the 18th green. But Woods missed a chance to add a last birdie when his 5-foot putt lipped out. He left the green, nonetheless, to applause, getting a fervent pat on the back from his playing partner, K.J. Choi, who bettered Woods by one stroke. The third golfer in the group, Matt Kuchar, slowly worked his way around the course but finished under par as well with a 70. When it was over, Woods was both calm but undoubtedly energized. 'I felt in a rhythm by the end,' he said. 'I'm very pleased. I did some things really well. You know, if I had putted better, it could have been a special day.' 