AUGUSTA, Ga. – Tiger Woods playing the Masters again, his shirt as pink as the azaleas at Augusta National, would have been enough reason to celebrate Thursday.

It felt that way to him, too.

Woods twirled his club after good shots, and there were enough. He pumped his fist after his longest birdie putt. And then normalcy gave way to reality when he used his wedge as a walking stick for his once-battered and now weary legs for a final climb toward the 18th green.

Another par save for a 1-under 71, four shots behind Sungjae Im.

But this wasn’t just about a score. Woods was competing in a major, the first time in 508 days since a car crash some 14 month ago that shattered his right leg. That much was clear when asked if simply being able to play felt like a victory. His answer: “Yes.”

“If you would have seen how my leg looked to where it’s at now, the pictures – some of the guys know; they’ve seen the pictures – to see where I’ve been, to get from there to here, it was no easy task,” Woods said.

It doesn’t figure to get any easier the rest of the way.

Still to come is Friday, the first time he will have walked 18 holes at Augusta National on consecutive days since the accident with what he described as “lots of ice” in between.

Ahead of him are a collection of players who have won majors, who have won at Augusta, and who have spent the last year honing their games instead of figuring out how to get from a hospital bed to finding joy in the simple pleasure of walking.

Im, the 24-year-old South Korean known for rarely missing the center of the club face, ran off three straight birdies at the start, recovered from a pair of bogeys with a 12-foot eagle putt on the 13th and added a late birdie for a 5-under 67.

He was one shot ahead of Cameron Smith, playing for the first time since winning The Players Championship a month ago. The Aussie with the mullet had the most dynamic round of the day with his eight birdies, all between a double bogey at the start and the finish.

“To be honest, those couple of double bogeys really didn’t have too bad a shot in them. It’s not like I was scratching it out of the trees,” Smith said. “Just misjudged the wind on both wedges.”