Alistair Bruce-Ball
Commentator on BBC Radio 5 Live

Tiger Woods very casually leaning on his golf bag - he's being roared onto every green and every tee.

Commanding the attention on the 16th tee, good crisp strike and he finds the heart of the green.

McIlroy leaves his birdie putt at the fourth out to the left. No problem, a par there is not to be sniffed at. He looks to be somewhat in control so far, which is good sign given his indifferent form since the turn of the year.

Pars for Fitzpatrick and Koepka at the fourth as well, with the Englishman doing brilliantly to get up and down after going left off the tee.

Tiger wins closest to the pin on 16 out of the group as he finds the dancefloor and the top shelf of it where the flag is today as well.

Oosthuizen is short right and Niemann hits a shocker which almost finds the drink way left of the pin but just catches the bunker.

Smith is -8 for his last 12 holes. Ridiculous.

No surprise, then, to see him smoke his drive down the 17th.

The Players champion looks untouchable in this form.

Question for Joaquin Niemann is this: does he putt or chip from the back edge of the 15th green? He goes with the putter and rattles his ball past the hole.

Back to Woods, who has a long putt for birdie. Speed looks good, line even better. Ball hits the brakes at the end but leaves Woods with a knock-in for par.

Niemann tucks away his par, but Oosthuizen goes one better than his playing partners with a much-needed birdie.

A second birdie on the way for McIlroy?

He smacks a glorious long iron high into the sky at the 240-yard par-three fourth to just 20 feet.

Good chance coming up for Rors.

All three sitting on level par for the tournament with two pars on the fourth and a bogey from Spieth after a wonderful recovery shot was followed by a poor putt on his par save.

Spieth has struggled with the flat stick of late and he can't really afford to have another bad day on the greens if he wants to challenge.

Listen to those roars. On the Masters hole-by-hole guide it says "an exacting tee shot is required to set up a reasonable birdie chance."

Cameron Smith knocks his to within five feet. Reckon he's hit the mark?

Up he strides to knock in his putt. Never. In. Doubt. Is there some magic in that mullet? It feel like it.

After a couple of ropey holes Bryson DeChambeau responds with a birdie and an even better shot off the tee.

Woods doesn't look to be walking as comfortably as he was earlier, unsurprising after playing 14 holes on one of the most demanding golf courses on the planet.

As he said earlier this week, it's dragging himself around 72 holes which is the biggest challenge this week.

Much better from Hideki Matsuyama who rolls an eagle putt to within seven feet and then tidies up.

Steady par from JT but a bit of a chastening hole for James Piot. The 23-year-old goes well left and out of bounds off the tee and makes matters a whole lot worse when he finds the tributary to Rae's Creek with his fourth shot.

Two dropped shots. And eventually a very sorry eight.

Good job Tiger Woods is wearing a shirt which stands out. It'd be difficult to spot him in the middle of the patrons otherwise.

His second shot stayed left and he's seemingly in more trouble than he was previously.

Hundreds of patrons have to be moved out of the way, allowing the 2019 champ to see the 15th green.

Needs a sweet strike here.. he's nailed it. Course he has.

Ball makes a smooth landing in the middle of the green and gives him a shot at a birdie.

No birdie for Scheffler at the par-five 13th, so he stays three under and two adrift of Cameron Smith.

Finau makes par but Scott's round is beginning to slip away from him. The Australian found the creek with his tee shot and he can only manage a six.

Three over now.

McIlroy's in a great position at the third, just 35 yards or so from the pin. He clips it cleanly and spins it back, but he still has a 16-foot left-to-right breaker for his birdie, which he misses.

Koepka starts his birdie try well outside the left edge. It's beautifully judged, but just slips past on the low side. Par.

It's a par for Fitzpatrick, too, and on they go...

"Yeah baby" shouts Cameron Smith as he plays out of the thicker stuff on the 15th to get back into position.

He follows up with lovely pitch from 100 yards or so to leave himself with a very presentable putt to move to five under. What's that, nine feet or so? For one of the best putters in the game, absolutely no bother at all.

Bryson DeChambeau lifts his third over the pond but he's made a right mess of that, as his ball spirals well right.

It's another bogey for a man that called this a par 67-course.

Jordan Spieth and Viktor Hovland have both made solid starts with birdies in their first three holes.

Xander Schauffele opens up with three straight pars to ease himself into the tournament.

Up and downs from the side of the green were virtual gimmes for Tiger Woods back in the day.

But loose chips and missed putts have led to the two bogeys on the 15-time major champion's card today.

A steadier drive on the par-five 15th drifts left but appears to be in the first cut of rough.

It's been a bit of an adventure for MacIntyre. He missed a tiny putt for birdie on eight and did wonderfully well to save par after driving into the trees at the ninth.

But he can't keep a bogey off his card for much longer as he finds the greenside bunker on 10, from where he stumbles to a five.

Shane Lowry has had an up-and-down day with an eagle and a double bogey both on the card, but he almost had a hole-in-one to show for his efforts.

The former Open champion rattled the flagstick on the fourth but the ball bounced away from the hole instead of dropping in. So close!

Jon Rahm has had birdie opportunities on each of his first three holes.

The Spaniard just hasn't quite put enough juice into his putts yet. If he was playing this game on the computer he'd just ratchet things up by half a power bar.