WIth six birdies and one blemish -- a double-bogey six on the third hole -- Tiger Woods entered the clubhouse with a stunning 4-under 68 on Thursday in Round 1 of the 2018 Arnold Palmer Invitational. All you really need to know about Woods' first round at Bay Hill is that midway through his walk around the place he's won eight times, Woods was officially made the favorite for the 2018 Masters.

Woods did not lead at the time he finished, but he was one back of Jimmy Walker, who shot a 5-under 67. Still, Woods is right where he needs to be at a course he has crushed so many times over the years.

He started out brilliantly with three birdies on the back nine of the course (Woods' front nine of the day as he started his round on the 10th tee). After a pair of pars at Nos. 1 and 2, he badly pushed his drive out to the right where it went out of bounds. He had to walk all the way back to the tee and ended up making double bogey. 

But as we've seen so many times over the years with Tiger, the bounce was strong. Tiger birdied Nos. 4, 6 and 7 with the denouement coming on the final of those birdies, a 71-foot putt to get to 4 under.

"As I did last week, as my dad always told me, just putt to the picture," said Woods. "And I was asking for it to bite as it came over that knob, it was a little too hot and it had to crash in the hole."

A 11-foot par putt on No. 9 wrapped up a thrilling day for Woods, who is in contention for the second week in a row after finishing T2 at the Valspar Championship last week.

1. A great start: It feels like expectations have shifted a bit. In past comebacks -- and even earlier in this one -- clinging to something around par felt like a win for Woods. Now, we expect something low early. Even more remarkably, that's exactly what Woods is delivering. He started with three birdies in his first seven holes on Thursday, which is pretty incredible when you consider the stat below. I should remind you that Woods has won this tournament four times since 2007.

"You guys are asking different questions than you did when I first came back and that wasn't that long ago, that's two months ago," Woods said to the media after his round. "The narrative has completely flipped from how you guys ask me questions, and I just wanted to remind you guys that it wasn't that long ago that you were asking a different set of questions and that you need to enjoy it. I enjoy just playing again after what I've been through. Playing feels good."

2. Wedge game outrageous: The 71-footer will get all the headlines for Woods' 3.8 strokes gained around the greens number, but it wasn't nearly the most impressive shot of his day from close range. Tiger hit a floppy, spinning wedge on the par-5 6th hole that made my knees weak. Watch this and remember how bad this man's wedges were just three years ago. The surest sign that Tiger is back (though I'm still not sure what that means) is not found in his driving distance or iron trajectory but in this short game.

3. Driver update (still not great!): It's the only hole or even anything resembling a hole in his game right now. But when it's bad, it's "is that still on the property?" bad. Tiger lost a shot and a half to the field off the tee on Thursday, and one of the primary perpetrators was this wayward drive on the par-4 third hole, where he made double. Woods lost over two strokes driving to the field on this hole alone, which speaks both to how bad it was and how sometimes it's just one stroke off the tee that can waylay him. Tiger hit just 8-of-14 fairways on the day, but he did have five drives of 300-plus yards (more on that below). He largely got into trouble because of those two drives on No. 3 that did not leave a pretty imprint.

hole-3.jpg

4. Par-5 success: Thursday's round was promotional video for how to not hit close but still score out of your mind. Woods' proximity to the hole on the front nine was 56 feet, and he was 1 under on that side. He hit two (!) approach shots closer than 15 feet on the entire day and managed his way to a 68 (with a double!) These numbers do not add up until you look at the way he played the par 5s. Woods made putts of 10 feet, 6 feet, 4 feet and 3 feet because he was close enough to the green with his second shot to get up and down or two-putt for birdie.

Some of that goes back to his distance off the tee, and this is why he won't completely take driver out of his own hands. He's so long that it affords him a little wiggle room and an ability to reach all of the 500-plus yard par 5s in two. This has actually not been a strength of his so far this season -- he's No. 179 on the PGA Tour in par-5 scoring average -- but it was on Thursday as he birdied all four of the par 5s.

"I feel way more comfortable in the tournament setting," said Woods. "It's taken a little bit of time in terms of tournament rounds under my belt to be able to get into this position, and I've got my tournament feels now, which is nice. That was only going to come with time and with patience and just playing golf tournaments. I'm scoring now, so I'm going out there and hitting shots and I'm scoring. I know where to miss it. I don't have to really think that much and just going out there and doing it."

5. Shot of the day: Tiger's best stroke of the 68 on Thursday was not the wedge I posted above or the 71-foot bomb he sank on No. 7. It wasn't a flipped wedge or a twirled long iron. No, it was the 11-foot par putt he made at the last to take a little momentum into Friday afternoon. Saving par from that distance is why Tiger had made over $1 billion in his career. It's his bread and butter. It's what he does, and now he's doing it once again.

"I don't like making bogeys, period," said Woods. "That was a nice save."