Watch: Tiger Woods makes his unexpected Masters return on the 25th anniversary of his maiden triumph

The Masters: Round one scores

67 - Im

68 - Smith

69 - Willett, Scheffler, Niemann, D Johnson

70 - Kokrak, Conners, Cantlay

71 - Woods, Higgs, Na, Berger, Finau, Simpson, Varner, Zalatoris, Fitzpatrick

Woods, who hadn't played competitively since his Masters title defence in November 2020, was involved in a life-threatening car crash last February and still wasn't expected to make his comeback anytime soon.

But after successfully negotiating his practice rounds well enough for him to even say he's in the right condition to win a sixth Green Jacket and 16th major title this week, Woods got his highly anticipated return under way following a short weather delay on Thursday.

Woods made a solid start despite missing the first fairway, and it was a towering approach to two feet at the par-three sixth hole which got him under-par for the tournament.

There were signs of rust when a clumsy chip at the eighth resulted in a bogey, and another heavy-handed chip from the back of the 14th hole saw him give back the shot he'd picked up at the par-five 13th.

Woods then poured in a 30-foot birdie putt at the 16th to get back under-par before a fine par at the last, after his drive had found trees to the left of the fairway, completing a battling round which saw him show few signs of discomfort.

A one-under 71 left him four behind Sungjae Im and three adrift of Australia's Cameron Smith, whose round began and finished with double-bogey sixes, between which eight birdies helped him to the top of the leaderboard. Former champions Dustin Johnson and Danny Willett shot three-under 69s which were matched by world number one Scottie Scheffler, and Joaquin Niemann.

"I'm proud of my whole team," said Woods. "We've worked so hard. People have no idea how hard we've worked, each and every day. I've alluded to this before, but we've never taken a day off. We did something every single day, and that led me to this: this opportunity to play in the Masters, and as of right now I'm only three back.

"Granted, we've got a long way to go. This is a marathon. This golf course is going to to dry out, it's going to make it interesting. It's nice to get off to a positive start.

"Lots of treatment, lots of hopping in ice baths, just shivering and suffering. It's awful, but it allows me to recover. It's just the process on both sides. It's pre- and post-. They've gotten longer (his workouts). My team's done an incredible job of getting me ready. I said 'hey guys, just get me to this point. My adrenaline will kick in and I'll know what to do. I know how to play golf, and I know how to play this golf course. Let's try and get me to this point, and I'll take it from there'."

Smith had appeared set to race into a clear lead when holing from close range at the 16th for his eighth birdie of the day, but ended the round as he'd started it - with a double-bogey six. It meant that he was in second place when Presidents Cup teammate Im signed for a five-under round of 67, making a return to form from the Korean.

Smith nevertheless had plenty to smile about as he pursues a breakthrough major title, having won The PLAYERS Championship on his latest start.

"I love this place," he said. "I know it presents plenty of birdies. I just really had to get in a groove. I hit a great drive down the second and went into the bunker, which again was quite frustrating, but after probably the fourth or fifth hole there, started getting on a bit of a trot and started seeing those good iron shots go pretty close.

"To be honest, those couple of double bogeys really didn't have too bad a shots in them. It's not like I was scratching it out of the trees. Got my second shot into a reasonable spot and just misjudged the wind on both wedges. Yeah, just left myself in a bit of a tough spot. Other than that, it was just really solid."

Scheffler bogeyed the last to fall one behind Smith along with 2016 and 2020 champions Willett and Johnson, while Niemann outshone Woods in the feature three-ball, holing out for a spectacular eagle at the ninth and dropping just one shot, which came at the following hole.

Tiger Woods: Round one stats

• Greens in regulation: 9/18
• Fairways hit: 8/14
• Putts per GIR: 1.50
• Birdies: 3
• Pars: 14
• Bogeys: 1

Tiger Woods: Masters career statistics

• Masters starts: 23
• Masters Titles: 5
• Top 5 (including wins): 12
• Top 10s (including wins): 14
• Missed Cuts: 1 but only when an amateur in 1996
• Augusta scoring average: 70.76 since 1996
• Sub-70 rounds: 26/86 since 1996