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Tiger, Rory up to par

Tiger Woods looked a bit like old self, despite hurting right wrist, while Rory finished fourth.

AUGUSTA, Ga. - If you'd told CBS before the first ball was struck this week that Rory McIlroy and Tiger Woods would be going out in the second-to-last group on Masters Sunday, they probably would've signed up. Especially the Tiger part. But who would ever figure that two of the five guys tied for fifth place after the first 54 holes of the season's first major would also be 10 strokes behind the record-setting pace being set by last April's runner-up, who appears to be about as precocious as they were at 21?

McIlroy at least would finish six back, which was good for fourth. He's still No. 1 in the world, and has still won two of the last three majors. Tiger, not so much. He closed with a 73, just as he'd opened with, for a 283 that left him tied for 17th, 13 behind the 21-year-old who matched his record score from 1997 when he was that age. In between there were times when he resembled the Tiger of old, rather than just the old Tiger we've grown accustomed to these last 16 months.

But there was a scary moment at the ninth, when Tiger hit a root buried in the pine straw on his second shot. He winced in obvious pain, holding his right wrist.

"It didn't move, but my body kept moving," he explained. "There was a little joint that popped out and I was able to somehow put it back in, which didn't feel very good. But at least I could move my hand.

"It's sore. I'm not going to be lifting any weights for a little bit."

He only plays a doctor on TV.

This of course was his first tournament in 2 months.

"Considering the state of my game [then], where it was, this was mostly positives," said Woods, who was noticeably sharper around the greens, which had been a huge issue, but found only two of 14 fairways yesterday. "It was maybe only a shot or two over 72 holes that I reverted back to that old swing pattern. But now my short game's my strength again, which is good stuff."

And what about Jordan Spieth, who did something Tiger hasn't been able to do since 2005?

"If you're going to run away and hide like that, you have to make a lot of putts," he said. "It helped that the conditions were soft. Guys were aggressive out there, firing at flags we don't normally fire at. When most of us gave ourselves [birdie] looks, we just didn't make them like he did . . .

"I think [what he did is] fantastic. He's doing all the things he needs to do. When he gets it going, he's one of those guys that like Rory can go off and make bunches of birdies in a row. A collection of birdies."

There was a time when Tiger was one of those guys too.

Woods won his first major by 12. McIlroy won his by eight. So they know what it's like, and takes.

"He just kept his foot down," Rory said. "It's a special time for him to be able to walk up that last hole to enjoy, to see it, to really let it all sink in. It's not a feeling many people get, especially with their first major championship. It's great for him . . . He's comfortable in the position."