Tiger Woods overcame a return of the red mist but also rediscovered his putting at Bay Hill for a solid start to the defence of his Arnold Palmer Invitational title in Orlando.
The world number one showed his angry side following some wayward driving off the tee but made amends by needing just 24 putts at Bay Hill to end the day with a two-under-par 68, three shots back on the first-round lead held by Jason Gore, who fired an opening 65 at the end of the day on the par-70, 7,239-yard course.
Woods, making his third start of the year following his recovery from reconstructive knee surgery last summer and coming off a tie for ninth at Doral in the WGC-CA Championship two weeks ago, got off to a flying start by chipping in at the first from 33 yards.
A double-bogey seven at the sixth hole began a mid-round wobble which saw him stuck behind trees from consecutive tee shots at the eighth and ninth.
Both times Wood scrambled for par before making four birdies in a row between the 11th and 14th holes, even after throwing down his driver at the 12th following yet another errant tee shot.
Woods bogeyed the 17th but was pleased with the way he had turned his day around.
Having been knocked out in the second round of the WGC-Accenture Match Play on his return to competition in February and then finished in a tie for ninth at Doral two weeks ago in the WGC-CA Championship, Woods admitted Thursday's round at Bay Hill had been the first time during his comeback where he had had to deal with his anger.
"No doubt," Woods said. "The first two tournaments I didn't have it because I was hitting it so well.
"Today I was not hitting it well, and I had to scramble and grind it out and manage to score, and it's just really not too hard to shoot rounds under par when you're hitting a bunch of fairways and a bunch of greens like I did down at Doral.
"Today was different. I had to manage my game."
At Doral, Woods had been frustrated by missed putts along wrong lines but at Bay Hill, where he has already won five times, his putter proved his saviour, particularly at the ninth.
"I got a drop there and somehow hit up there around the green and just hit a terrible pitch, came out really hot, and it was nice to make about a 15-footer for par there just to keep momentum going on the back nine.
"It was nice to hit one on line and know what it was supposed to do."
Gore, playing on a sponsor's invitation from Palmer after falling outside the top 126 on the PGA Tour money list, had brought up the rear in one of the last groups out and finished with a flourish with three birdies in his last four holes.
"It's the first time in a long time I didn't suck," Gore joked.
Gore leads fellow Americans Tim Herron, the 1999 champion, and Jeff Overton by a shot with six players on three under, including veteran former US Open champion Lee Janzen and the in-form Nick Watney, also of the USA.
With only 21 players breaking par, Padraig Harrington was in a large group of players on level par after shooting a 70.
Sweden's Richard S. Johnson and Japan's Ryuji Imada also posted 70s while the latter's teenage compatriot Ryo Ishikawa suffered a quadruple-bogey nine at the sixth on his way to a 76.
India's Jeev Milkha Singh, Brian Davis of England and Northern Ireland's Graeme McDowell finished on one over par, as did reigning Master champion Trevor Immelman of South Africa, while England's Oliver Wilson was a shot further back after a 74.
It was a day of struggle for four Englishmen. Justin Rose finished at five over with Ross Fisher and Greg Owen, who closed birdie, bogey, bogey, double bogey, double bogey, on six over. Ian Poulter hit a 77 but Australian Jason Day fared worse, withdrawing after nine holes having complained of dizziness and nausea.
Collated first round scores in the USPGA Tour Arnold Palmer Invitational pres. by MasterCard, Bay Hill Club & Lodge, Orlando, Florida, United States of America
(USA unless stated, par 70):
65 Jason Gore
66 Jeff Overton, Tim Herron
67 Nick Watney, Hunter Mahan, Sean O'Hair, Lee Janzen, Stuart Appleby (Aus), Mark Wilson
68 J J Henry, Tiger Woods, Daniel Chopra (Swe), Chad Campbell, Brian Gay, Rocco Mediate, Skip Kendall
69 Kevin Na, Jerry Kelly, Steve Lowery, Heath Slocum, Johnson Wagner
70 Vaughn Taylor, Harrison Frazar, James Nitties (Aus), Webb Simpson, Tommy Armour III, Ben Crane, Bill Haas, Ryuji Imada (Jpn), Pat Perez, John Senden (Aus), Steve Flesch, Stewart Cink, Brad Faxon, Kenny Perry, Richard S Johnson (Swe), George McNeill, Mathew Goggin (Aus), Scott Verplank, Padraig Harrington (Irl)
71 Bart Bryant, David Toms, Nick O'Hern (Aus), Charles Howell III, Mike Weir (Can), Stephen Ames (Can), Brian Davis (Eng), Jeev Milkha Singh (Ind), Graeme McDowell (NIrl), Lucas Glover, Scott Piercy, Kevin Streelman, Robert Allenby (Aus), Trevor Immelman (Rsa), Mark Calcavecchia, D.J. Trahan
72 Bill Lunde, Zach Johnson, Kyle Stanley, Adam Scott (Aus), Oliver Wilson (Eng), Woody Austin, Tom Lehman, Todd Hamilton, Louis Oosthuizen (Rsa), Peter Lonard (Aus), Billy Andrade, Boo Weekley, Corey Pavin, Marc Turnesa
73 Robert Gamez, Davis Love III, Chris DiMarco, Angel Cabrera (Arg), Bubba Watson, D.A. Points, Steve Marino, J.B. Holmes, Brandt Snedeker
74 Brendon De Jonge, Chris Stroud, Retief Goosen (Rsa), David Duval, Ben Curtis, Greg Kraft, Cliff Kresge, Jeff Klauk, Bob Estes, John Rollins, Vijay Singh (Fij), Paul Goydos, Brett Quigley, Ryan Palmer, Ken Duke, Nicholas Thompson
75 Aaron Baddeley (Aus), Erik Compton, John Merrick, Justin Rose (Eng), Cameron Beckman, Andrew Magee
76 Ryo Ishikawa (Jpn), Will MacKenzie, Fredrik Jacobson (Swe), Ross Fisher (Eng), Jason Dufner, Greg Owen (Eng)
77 Michael Campbell (Nzl), Notah Begay III, Ian Poulter (Eng), Ted Purdy
78 Rodney Pampling (Aus), Jim Furyk, Carl Pettersson (Swe), Richard Sterne (Rsa)
79 Parker McLachlin
80 Billy Mayfair, Fred Couples
82 Steve Lamontagne
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