Tiger Woods Watch: Tiger Now at 3-Under After Incredible Birdie on Ninth Hole

4:54 p.m.: With Woods short of the 10th green, we're getting ready to hand the blog over for the back nine. Stay tuned for the link.

Check out the next nine holes as we continue our Tiger Woods Watch.

4:46 p.m.: Woods' drive on the 10th finds the rough.

Also, as Jason Sobel of ESPN.com pointed out, Woods could finish the rest of his round at par and turn in his best opening-round scoreboard at Augusta. Ever.

4:38 p.m.: Birdie putt? Drain-o.

Woods is now 3-under through nine holes, just two shots behind the leaders.

Not to get carried away here, as I can only speak for myself, but that second shot from the ninth fairway was the kind of thing that golf fans have needed for the past five months. Most golf fans didn't care about the sensational, tabloid stuff that's been flowing constantly. We all just wanted to see the world's greatest golfer.

For at least a few minutes there on the ninth, I know I wasn't thinking about any of that scandal. It was a pretty cool couple of minutes.

4:34 p.m.: Tiger's excitement from that shot may soon be subdued — the National Weather Service has issued a tornado warning.

4:30 p.m.: Holy cow. If his shot on the eighth was a "Wow!" shot, his second shot on the ninth was a "You've to to be kidding me!" shot.

Woods bent an iron shot around a tree (and some brave spectators), shuffled out into the fairway and urged his ball to stay on course. It did.

The shot was hot as it hit the green, but it checked up just before reaching the fringe and slowly inched back toward the pin.

TheStreet.com's Ty Wenger described it as "one of those patented hit-and-run-out-to-the-right-to-see-the-awesomeness-of-his-swooping-hook-ball-flight shots to reach the green."

Woods is staring at a 10-12 foot birdie put, one that would drop him to 3-under.

That will be the SportsCenter highlight for sure.

4:27 p.m.: Tiger's tee shot on the ninth is stuck on the left side of the fairway, leaving him with no line to the green. Let's see how creative he can be.

4:23 p.m.: Nick Watney, at 4-under, looks to be making a run at the leaders. He just drilled his tee shot on 16 to within five feet for an easy birdie attempt. He is, if you weren't aware, cousins with NESN's Red Sox reporter Heidi Watney.

4:19 p.m.: They've now posted a weather warning on the leaderboards to let the spectators know that things could turn for the worse soon.

4:17 p.m.: With his black pants billowing in the stiff breeze, Tiger just knocked in the eagle putt to drop to 2-under through eight holes.

Tiger gave a quick little fist pump, waved to the crowd and took his eagle to the ninth. It's looking dark in Georgia, so that's storm has to be close.

4:09 p.m.: That might have been the first "Wow!" shot from Tiger of the day. Sitting in the middle of the fairway on the par-5 eighth, Woods sent a long iron shot into a hilly patch of rough to the right of the green. It looked somewhat ugly, but the ball kicked left toward the green and rolled slowly to within 12 feet or so.

Eagle putt on the way.

4:07 p.m.: The rain should be starting soon. How severe that rain is, well, I can't help you there.

Woods could use a bird on the par-5 eighth in the event that weather forces him to end his day early.

4:02 p.m.: Tiger just bogeyed 7, bringing him to even on the day. It took him seven holes to make a mistake in his first round of professional golf since early October. Not bad, I guess.

3:41 p.m.: I'm going to use my amateur meteorological skills here (I was a lifeguard for seven years, if that counts) and predict that some heavy rains will roll in within 60 minutes.

Then again, I've never lived in the South, where thunderstorms are a horse of a different color.

3:37 p.m.: Tiger just missed a birdie putt on 6, keeping him at 1-under.

Meanwhile, Choi and Kuchar are both one shot better than Woods, but aside from their immediate family, nobody's interested.

3:22 p.m.: Tiger struck the birdie putt to within five feet or so before draining the par putt. You have to think that he's thrilled right now with his play, after being out for so long.

3:16 p.m.: Tiger is staring down a very long birdie putt on the fifth green.

3:09 p.m.: A quick update on the field: Watson is now joined by Lee Westwood, Y.E. Yang and Phil Mickelson atop the leaderboard at 5-under.

Mickelson eagled 13 and birdied 14 and 15 to drop to 5-under with three left to play.

3:05 p.m.: Woods couldn't birdie the par-3 fourth, and he remains at 1-under. Also, no signs of any more airplanes to report.

2:39 p.m.: Tiger is now 1-under through three holes after birdying the par-4 third.

2:29 p.m.: Tiger's now even through two holes of play, but amazingly, he's not the biggest story.

OK, for anyone who really doesn't care about golf, Tiger's still No. 1, but the shocker of the day comes from Tom Watson's first-round 67. At 5-under (and 60 years old), he's the leader thus far.

After what he did last July at Turnberry, maybe we shouldn't be surprised. Yet we are.

2:17 p.m.: Just came across a photo from Augusta. In it, a plane flies overhead with a banner that reads: "Tiger: Did You Mean Bootyism?" The photo is below.

Now, it was expected that there could be some heckling at Augusta, but who could have expected it would have come from the air?

Either way, you have to admire the bravery and stupidity of whoever made that flight. Bravo.

2:13 p.m.: Tiger's tee shot was perfect on the par-5 second, but his second shot comes up a bit short. It's exciting to see Tiger going for an eagle in his second hole back — it could be a sign of things to come.

2:07 p.m.: Tiger had a chance for birdie on the first hole, but he missed his putt.

2:04 p.m.: Woods is officially on the board with a par 4 to open his round. Tom Watson, at 4-under, is currently the leader. Watson's on the 18th hole.

1:54 p.m.: In case you were wondering, K.J. Choi and Matt Kuchar's drives split the fairway.

1:44 p.m.: Woods' first drive of the day was a healthy shot down the right edge of the fairway.

Woods, who acknowledged the fans minutes before his shot with a doff of his cap and a wave of his hand, instantly turned into Super Focused Tiger for his shot. After he made contact, you could hear about 300 camera shutters closing. It kind of makes you wish someone had let his finger slip during Tiger's backswing.

1:43 p.m.: Tiger has made his way to the first tee box, and he was met with overwhelmingly positive support. Lots of golf claps in there, not so much any heckling.

Tiger's tee is in the ground …

1:36 p.m.: Tiger is just minutes away from teeing off. Looking at the radar, however, it looks like his round will be interrupted at some point by rain and lightning. We'll have updates throughout the afternoon, so continue to check back.

12:39 p.m.: With one hour to go until Woods' scheduled tee time, reports from Augusta say that winds are picking up significantly. Tough break for most of the field that's out on the course right now.

12:15 p.m.: There is a front of heavy rain moving into the Augusta area, and it could delay Woods' round.

Weather.com says "a line of thunderstorms (some strong) will move through Augusta, Georgia during the afternoon hours.

There very well could be frequent lightning associated with this line so play may have to be suspended."

12 p.m.: We're closing in on Tiger Woods' return to competitive golf on the sport's biggest stage, as he is set to tee off at 1:42 p.m. ET.

Through the morning of Day 1, Steve Marino has an early lead at 3-under through 10 holes. Tom Watson, whose British Open run last year was one of the best stories in golf, is just a stroke behind through 10 holes.

Anthony Kim and Angel Cabrera also sit at 2-under, with a giant crop of golfers at 1-under.

Check back leading up to Woods' 1:42 p.m. tee time for updates, or spend the next 102 minutes watching his new Nike commercial and try to figure out its message. it's up to you, really.