Tiger Woods says he was "sore" but "right where I need to be" after making a promising start to his astonishing comeback at The Masters.
It was feared the 15-time major champion's incredible career would be over when he suffered serious leg and foot injuries in a car accident in February 2021.
Yet just over 13 months later, the legendary American was teeing off in the first major of the season at Augusta and was just three shots off the lead when he signed for a one-under 71.
At the famous course where he won the green jacket five times, Woods made three birdies and two bogeys in a promising return.
Sungjae Im was at the top of the leaderboard on five under through 15 holes, with Dustin Johnson a shot adrift of the South Korean along with Cameron Smith, who started and finished with a double bogey as he went round in 68.
The 46-year-old Woods says it feels like a victory just to be playing this week and is ready to go through the pain barrier in Georgia, where he was given such great support on Thursday.
He said: "I am as sore as I expected to feel, but it was amazing to have - like I was telling the team all week, come game time, it will be a different deal.
"My adrenaline will kick in. I'll get into my own little world, and I'll get after it. It's about the training that we've done to have the stamina to go.
"I'm going to be sore, yes. That's just the way it is. But the training cycles that we've had to make sure that I have the stamina to keep going -- and this is only one round. We've got three more to go. There's a long way to go and a lot of shots to be played."
Woods revealed that his pre-round preparation had not gone to plan.
"I had a terrible warm-up session," he said. "I hit it awful. I went back to what my dad always said. Did you accomplish your task in the warm-up? It's a warm-up. Did you warm-up?
"Yes, I did. Now go play. That's exactly what I did, I went and played."
"I forgot whatever I did on the range and just go ahead and play shot for shot, hit the ball in the correct spot, commit to what I'm doing, leave myself in the right angles, hopefully make a few putts, and let's get after this thing. Yeah, I was able to do that.
"I was able to finish up in the red. I'm only three back. I'm right where I need."
The former world number one, who could have lost a leg following his car accident last year, had more work to do after such an encouraging opening round.
He added: "Lots of treatments. Lots of ice. Lots of ice baths. Just basically freezing myself to death. That's just part of the deal. And getting all the swelling out as best as we possibly can and getting it mobile and warmed up, activated and explosive for the next day. Those are two totally different ends of the spectrum.
"Most sports, if you're not feeling very good, you got a team-mate to pass it off to, and they can kind of shoulder the load. Or in football, one day a week. Here we've got four straight days, and there's no one that's going to shoulder the load besides me. I've got to figure out a way to do it.
"My team's been incredible at getting me into this position so that I can compete. I'll take it from there. I know how to play. I've just got to get out there where I can play."
Xavi called on Barcelona fans to make Camp Nou "a pressure cooker" after they drew 1-1 against Eintracht Frankfurt in the first leg of their Europa League quarter-final.
Ansgar Knauff gave Eintracht the lead with a fine finish early in the second half at a raucous Deutsche Bank Park on Thursday, but Ferran Torres equalised after a brilliant exchange with Frenkie de Jong.
The Bundesliga side saw Tuta sent off with just over 10 minutes remaining following a second bookable offence, but Barca were unable to pinch a winner in the closing stages.
However, by avoiding defeat their unbeaten run stretched to 14 games – their best streak since January-May 2019 under Ernesto Valverde.
Barca had almost two-thirds of the possession but mustered fewer than half the attempts on goal of Eintracht, who were a persistent threat on the counter-attack.
Xavi felt his team were hindered by the state of the pitch and hopes a fiery atmosphere in Catalonia in next Thursday's second leg can help the Blaugrana advance to the semi-finals.
"They were a very physical opponent. They got forward like hell in transitions. We didn't have the ball circulation and the state of the pitch didn't help us," Xavi told Movistar.
"We leave quite satisfied and Camp Nou will have to be a pressure cooker, like it was in their stadium.
"Normally the team that's in control creates more, but we were not able to stop their devilish counter-attacks. We had already been warned – they eliminated a team like [Real] Betis [in the last 16]."
Gerard Pique hobbled off in the first half with an apparent groin injury but Xavi was unable to provide a meaningful update on the centre-back.
Sergio Busquets, who would have given a penalty away for a tackle on Rafael Borre had it not been for VAR, acknowledged Barca will need to be better in the second leg.
"The goal gives us a lot of life because we had come to win but it was very difficult," said Busquets.
"There are things to improve. We will do better in the second leg with our fans and a pitch that will surely be better and faster.
"Barca are always a candidate to win everything. We had a period that wasn't the best but we're doing things well.
"We respect all the teams. Anything can happen and we will try to win."
Barca have progressed in three of the five knockout rounds in Europe's secondary competition after drawing the first leg away from home. They were eliminated in the last such instance by Bayern Munich in the 1995-96 season.
Top seed Felix Auger-Aliassime crashed out of the Grand Prix Hassan II after he was beaten 6-4 2-6 7-6 (9-7) by world number 65 Alex Molcan.
Making his debut in Marrakech, Auger-Aliassime arrived off the back of an impressive start to 2022.
Indeed, the world number nine had already triumphed in Rotterdam and been runner-up to Andrey Rublev in Marseille.
But he came unstuck at the hands of the player ranked 56 places lower, with Molcan securing his first career win over a top-10 player.
The Slovakian crucially broke in game nine on the way to taking the opening set. Auger-Aliassime, who hit 10 double faults during the contest, responded by dominating the second, while the players exchanged breaks in a decider that went to a tie-break.
The top seed forced match point at 7-6 up, but Molcan held on by reeling off the next three to secure a dramatic victory.
David Goffin, meanwhile, claimed his 300th tour-level win as he came from behind to defeat three-time champion Pablo Andujar.
Andujar had seen off second seed Dan Evans in the first round but, despite making a fast start against Goffin, it was the Belgian who triumphed 5-7 7-6 (7-4) 6-3.
Federico Coria overcame Mirza Basic in straight sets, while Roberto Carballes Baena defeated Portugal's Joao Sousa 6-2 7-6 (7-4) and Richard Gasquet saw off Pavel Kotov.
Tiger Woods made an impressive start to his sensational Masters return before Dustin Johnson joined Cameron Smith in a share of the lead at Augusta.
Woods declared himself fit to make an incredible comeback at Augusta on Thursday, just over 13 months after suffering serious leg and foot injuries in a car accident.
The 15-time major champion did not resemble a player whose career could have been over last year as he carded a one-under 71 in his first competitive round for 508 days.
Woods was in a share of ninth place when he holed a putt for par at 18 following a wayward tee shot as he made up for lost time in Georgia, where he was given magnificent support from packed galleries.
The five-time winner of the green jacket went out in 36 after a brilliant tee shot gave him a simple task of rolling in a short birdie putt at the par-three sixth, before a first bogey at the eighth.
Legendary American Woods made further gains at holes 13 and 16 following a second dropped shot at 14, looking like he had never been away in a promising opening round.
Smith started and finished with a double bogey as he signed for a four-under 68.
The Australian had been three shots clear, but sliced his tee shot way at the last to the right, undoing some of the good work after making eight birdies.
World number one Scottie Scheffler joined Smith on four under when he made a fourth birdie at the penultimate hole, but bogeyed 18 to join Danny Willett and Joaquin Niemann one stroke off the pace.
Johnson ominously moved into a share of the lead with Smith when he made a fourth birdie of the day at the 10th under blue skies.
Tanguy Ndombele was on target as Lyon held 10-man West Ham United to a 1-1 draw in their Europa League quarter-final first leg.
Ndombele – on loan from Tottenham – opened his account for the Ligue 1 side; equalising midway through the second half at the London Stadium on Thursday.
Jarrod Bowen had broken the deadlock early in the second half as David Moyes' side capitalised on sloppy defending by the visitors.
The Hammers played the entire second period with 10 men after Aaron Cresswell was controversially shown a straight red card just before the break.
Unbeaten in six European matches against English opposition, including their elimination of Manchester City in the 2019-20 Champions League quarter-finals, Lyon had the first sight on goal after 10 minutes.
The in-form Moussa Dembele lost Declan Rice at the near post, but was unable to direct Lucas Paqueta's inviting cross towards the target.
Said Benrahma latched onto Craig Dawson's long ball over the top of the defence at the other end before he was denied by Antony Lopes from a tight angle.
The Hammers suffered a big blow when they were reduced to 10 men just before half-time; Cresswell shown a straight red card after dragging back Dembele when he was deemed to be the last defender.
Despite their numerical disadvantage, the hosts took the lead seven minutes after the restart. Pablo Fornals won possession high up the field and after a couple of fortunate ricochets, Bowen's goal=bound effort deflected up and over Lopes via Jerome Boateng.
Lyon responded 14 minutes later as Ndombele tucked away after the Hammers failed to deal with Tete’s initial cross – leaving the tie finely poised heading into the second leg at the Groupama Stadium next week.
Braga will take a slender 1-0 lead into next week's Europa League quarter-final second leg against Rangers thanks to Abel Ruiz's strike in Thursday's tie.
The hosts had already hit the post through Ricardo Horta and had an Andre Horta strike ruled out when Abel Ruiz fired them ahead shortly before half-time.
Rangers eliminated Borussia Dortmund and Red Star Belgrade to make it this far but could not register a shot on target at Estadio Municipal de Braga.
The sides meet again at Ibrox in a week's time, with the winners of this tie to face either RB Leipzig or Atalanta in the semi-finals.
After a slow start to the contest, Braga came to life in the 25th minute when captain Ricardo Horta's side-footed shot from 12 yards came back off the post.
Braga thought they had taken the lead two minutes later when Andre Horta fired in a deflected shot, only for the goal to be chalked off for Fabinho's rash challenge on Ryan Jack.
But Abel Ruiz's powerful shot past Allan McGregor, making his 100th European appearance for Rangers, was allowed to stand five minutes before half-time.
The introduction of Joe Aribo and Kemar Roofe shortly after the hour mark injected some urgency into the Gers' play.
Braga's goal did not come under any serious threat, though, with Connor Goldson's wayward header the closest Rangers went to scoring.
Ferran Torres rescued a 1-1 draw for Barcelona in the first leg of their Europa League quarter-final against Eintracht Frankfurt, who finished with 10 men.
After a goalless first half at Deutsche Bank Park on Thursday, Ansgar Knauff sent the home fans into raptures with a wonderful finish from 20 yards out.
Xavi sent Frenkie de Jong and Ousmane Dembele on in response and the pair started a lovely move that ended with Torres slotting an equaliser into the bottom-left corner.
And although Tuta was shown a second yellow card with just over 10 minutes remaining, Barca were unable to complete a dramatic late turnaround to snatch the victory.
Kevin Trapp's fingertip save kept Torres at bay in the third minute and Djibril Sow failed to hit the target from a great opening at the other end.
Barca dominated possession but Trapp denied Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang and they lost Gerard Pique to an apparent groin injury – Clement Lenglet replacing him in the 23rd minute.
Eintracht were awarded a penalty shortly before half-time but upon reviewing video footage, referee Srdjan Jovanovic deemed Sergio Busquets had won the ball in his challenge on Rafael Borre.
The hosts took the lead just three minutes after the restart, though, as Knauff curled a great strike into the top-right corner from the edge of the box following a corner.
Jesper Lindstrom missed a brilliant chance to double Eintracht's lead 90 seconds later and it proved costly when De Jong – who had only been on the pitch for four minutes – teed up Torres to finish off a slick move.
Tuta was shown a yellow card for a lunge on Pedri in the 78th minute but Barca were unable to make their numerical advantage count in the closing stages.
What does it mean? Eintracht still in with a shout
After overcoming Inter en route to the semi-finals in 2018-19, knocking out another of Europe's most prestigious clubs remains a distinct possibility for Eintracht this season.
Although they were unable to become the first German team other than Bayern Munich to beat Barca in a European game since Bayer Leverkusen in September 2001 – the Blaugrana are now undefeated in 22 such matches – they will still fancy their chances at Camp Nou.
Barca struggle to weather Lindstrom
He may have missed a great chance early in the second half, but Lindstrom was a real thorn in the side of Barca with his electric pace. He supplied four key passes – more than any other player on the pitch – before being replaced in the 73rd minute.
Aubameyang comes up short
He has made a strong start to life at Barca but Aubameyang was far from his best in Germany. He only had one attempt on goal across the 90 minutes and completed fewer than half of his passes.
What's next?
Barca travel to Levante in LaLiga on Sunday before hosting the second leg next week, while Eintracht are in Bundesliga action at home to Freiburg.
Lucknow Super Giants moved level on points with Kolkata Knight Riders at the top of the Indian Premier League with a six-wicket victory over Delhi Capitals on Thursday.
The Capitals lost their way after Prithvi Shaw's sizzling knock of 61 off 34 deliveries, posting 149-3.
Quinton de Kock smashed 80 off just 52 balls to help the Super Giants over the line for their third successive victory with two balls to spare.
Shaw got the Capitals off to a strong start with some quick early runs before being caught by De Kock off the bowling of Krishnappa Gowtham.
Rishabh Pant (39 not out) and Sarfaraz Khan (36 not out) kept their side ticking over after Ravi Bishnoi removed David Warner (4) and Rovman Powell (3).
KL Rahul and De Kock got the Super Giants off to a positive start in their response, though the former holed out at mid-off to depart for 24.
After Evin Lewis went for just five, the game was in the balance when De Kock sliced the ball off the outside edge for Sarfaraz, leaving his side on 122/2 with four overs remaining.
However, Deepak Hooda (11) hit a six off the first ball of the 19th over and Ayush Badoni struck for Shardul Thakur for four and then six to seal victory.
Bishnoi's brilliance
Spinner Bishnoi was Lucknow's main threat with the ball as he picked up two wickets for just 22 runs in four overs.
Gowtham also impressed with 1-23 off his four as Delhi lost their way after Shaw's fireworks.
De Kock's quality shines through
After losing Rahul and Lewis in quick succession, the Super Giants were indebted to a typically explosive knock from De Kock.
The South Africa wicketkeeper-batter struck two maximums and nine fours before Krunal Pandya made an unbeaten 19 and Badoni took 10 off only three balls.
Massimiliano Allegri remembers his maiden successes with Sassuolo and Milan more fondly than his triumphs with Juventus.
Sassuolo made history under Allegri in 2007-08 when he led them to the Serie C title and promotion to the second tier for the first time.
He was poached by Cagliari and took over at Milan ahead of the 2010-11 season, guiding them to a first Scudetto in seven years.
Allegri only added the Supercoppa Italiana before moving onto Juve in 2014. He steered the Bianconeri to five straight Serie A titles – the first four of which were domestic doubles thanks to successes in the Coppa Italia – and two Champions League finals, both of which ended in defeat.
Despite the incredible record he possessed during his first stint at Juve, it is the triumphs in the earlier stages of his career that he remembers more prominently.
"All the titles are beautiful, I cannot choose. The ones I remember the most are the Serie C title with Sassuolo and the first Serie A title with Milan," said Allegri.
"The defeats, on the other hand, are all bad – some more than others because the question remains for you about whether you could have done something better."
Juve endured a sluggish start to the season following Allegri's return to the helm and sit eight points adrift of leaders Milan with seven games to play.
Allegri has come in for criticism for a lack of willingness to try out young players, an attitude many believe is widespread in Italy and a significant factor in their failure to qualify for the 2022 World Cup.
The 54-year-old explained why he may seem reluctant to put his faith in youth.
"For some years in Italy, there has been a tendency to consider youngsters to be champions after two or three games," he said.
"But that is pushing them ahead of schedule – at 20 years old a footballer cannot have the maturity of a 28-year-old."
RB Leipzig and Atalanta shared the spoils in a 1-1 draw in the first leg of their Europa League quarter-final on Thursday to set up a winner-takes-all decider in Bergamo.
Domenico Tedesco's Bundesliga side made it 10 games unbeaten across all competitions with a 4-1 thumping of Borussia Dortmund on Saturday but found themselves behind at the Red Bull Arena when Luis Muriel struck after 17 minutes.
Gian Piero Gasperini's visitors thought they had escaped lightly when Andre Silva saw his penalty saved by Juan Musso after the break, but Davide Zappacosta miscued into his own goal to restore parity.
Neither team could find a late winner, with Teun Koopmeiners and Dominik Szoboszlai denied by the woodwork, which leaves it all to play for in the return leg next Thursday.
Christopher Nkunku skewed a half-chance wide from Benjamin Henrichs' mishit strike in an otherwise uneventful opening to the contest.
But Muriel sparked the tie into life when he ghosted inside from the left flank before expertly whipping into the top-right corner for his fourth goal in European competition this season, his best tally.
Muriel almost repeated the trick shortly after but his left-footed drive narrowly evaded the far corner, before the woodwork denied Silva and Mario Pasalic at either end.
Peter Gulacsi pushed away a teasing Muriel curler from range after the interval, before Merih Demiral needlessly felled Nkunku inside the area.
Musso denied Silva's spot-kick before an excellent reflex save thwarted Willi Orban on the rebound, but Leipzig equalised moments later when Zappacosta inadvertently turned Angelino's cross into his own net.
Gulacsi then tipped a low Koopmeiners effort onto the post and Szoboszlai headed onto the crossbar, while Lukas Klostermann saw a late strike denied on the line following a goalmouth scramble from Emil Forsberg's corner as neither side could be separated.
Manchester City and Liverpool goalkeepers Ederson and Alisson are two of the best shot-stoppers in world football, and David James concedes it is a struggle to pick an outright favourite.
Brazil duo Ederson and Alisson will meet on Sunday as Manchester City host Liverpool in a crucial game in the Premier League title race.
The goalkeepers have been the standout shot-stoppers in the Premier League in recent seasons. While Ederson has three league titles to his name, Alisson has helped Liverpool to a top-flight triumph and Champions League success.
This season, both goalkeepers have performed to similarly high levels. Alisson has made 60 saves in the league from 78 shots on target faced, leaving him with a save percentage of 76.9, while Ederson has made 50 stops, registering a save percentage of 72.3.
Based on Opta's expected goals on target conceded (xGOT) model, Alisson has performed slightly better when it comes to the number of goals he has prevented with the quality of his shot-stopping.
Alisson has prevented 2.9 goals in the top-flight, while Ederson has prevented 1.7.
With the margins between the pair so tight, former England number one James says it is difficult to pick which goalie he prefers.
"My favourite two goalkeepers in the Premier League, absolutely," the former City and Liverpool goalkeeper told Stats Perform.
"Even off the field, these two guys are fantastic people. I can admire them from the goalkeeping art, but when you've got wonderful people doing it, then it just adds another layer to it.
"They're very good friends as well, which makes it even more interesting, team-mates on the international scene, your mates off the field, and then you're competing in pretty much every tournament."
However, James does believe that Alisson, due to Liverpool's more open style of play, is tested more regularly.
"If I had a favourite, it's very difficult because their attributes are different," he continued.
"When you look at Ederson, the guy who can kick the ball 90 metres, hardly ever kicks the ball 40 metres, and everything is pretty much played in his own half now.
"It's more a demonstration of the dominance of City and because of that dominance he's not actually being called upon so much.
"Whereas if you look at Allison, who's got the freedom to get an assist if he wants, but has been called upon time and again, this even going into the game on the weekend, you're looking at it and thinking well 'case history would argue that Allison has made more saves in the last two months, possibly in one game than Ederson has had to do'.
"So Allison's kind of winning at the moment because he's doing more but I wouldn't want to pick one as my ultimate favourite."
Serena Williams appeared to shut down premature talk of calling time on her career by declaring that she hopes to return from injury in time for Wimbledon.
The 40-year-old has not played competitively since losing to Aliaksandra Sasnovich in the first round of last year's tournament at SW19 and is now ranked at 246 in the world.
Williams' future in the sport was called into question on Thursday when her long-time coach Patrick Mouratoglou announced he will now work with Simona Halep.
However, the 23-time major winner – who has been coached by Mouratoglou since 2012 – has moved to confirm her intention to return to top-level tennis in the coming months.
Speaking alongside Green Bay Packers quarterback Aaron Rodgers at an event in Miami, Williams said: "We've been talking about my comeback and he's been hyping me up.
"He's getting me ready for Wimbledon. Can't wait!"
Williams is one major title shy of matching Margaret Court's long-standing record of 24, having been beaten in four finals since her most recent triumph at the 2017 Australian Open.
She missed last year's US Open on home soil, as well as the 2022 Australian Open in January.
Rodgers was surprised at Williams' Wimbledon announcement and asked: "What about the US Open?", to which the ex-world number one replied: "Wimbledon is first".
The grass-court grand slam gets under way on June 27.
Dominic Thiem is ready to "get back on track" after testing negative for coronavirus.
The luckless Austrian revealed he had contracted COVID-19 after making a long-awaited return in the Andalucia Open Challenger Tour event last week.
Thiem has not played on the ATP Tour since last June, missing Wimbledon and the US Open in 2021 after undergoing wrist surgery.
The 2020 US Open champion, who was beaten by Pedro Cachin on his comeback in Marbella, on Thursday stated that he is now COVID-free.
"A short update: I am finally negative and I feel much better! Thank you for all your messages! I really appreciate it!" he tweeted.
"I'm going to have a medical check-up, so I can get back on track!"
Thiem has reportedly pulled out of the Monte Carlo Masters this week, but his return to the ATP Tour should be imminent with the French Open on the horizon next month.
Wayne Rooney insists Lionel Messi is the only player who is not jealous of Cristiano Ronaldo, who seemingly hit out at his former team-mate after he criticised the forward's return to Manchester United.
The Portugal captain has found the net 18 times in 33 games in all competitions since his Old Trafford comeback, averaging a goal every 148 minutes, but United are out of all the cup competitions and down in seventh in the Premier League.
That has led to questions over the tenure of Ralf Rangnick, the next permanent appointment for the Red Devils, and United's transfer dealings, with Ronaldo and Paul Pogba both scrutinised.
Rooney, who appeared on Sky Sports' Monday Night Football, suggested Pogba should move on and concurred with fellow pundit Jamie Carragher that the return of Ronaldo had disappointed.
"You'd have to say no, at the minute," he said when asked had Ronaldo's transfer worked. "He's a goal threat, but the rest of his game, I think they need more. I think they need young, hungry players."
Rooney later posted a photo to Instagram of him on the programme, and Ronaldo appeared to hit back as he commented "Two Jealous" to the Derby County manager.
But United legend Rooney, who played with Ronaldo during his first stint in Manchester, has responded to the backlash by praising his former colleague as he suggested the former Real Madrid man is idolised by most professionals.
"I saw that this morning," he said on Thursday when asked about Ronaldo's reply. "I'd say there's probably not a footballer on the planet who isn't jealous of Cristiano.
"The career he's had, the trophies he's won, the money he's earned… his six pack! Every player bar Lionel Messi is jealous of Cristiano."
Ronaldo will aim to prove his doubters wrong when United head to lowly Everton in the Premier League on Saturday.
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