Round 1: the Memorial Tournament presented by Nationwide Insurance

The neck didn’t bother Tiger Woods in his return Thursday to the PGA TOUR. But his wedges did.

Woods, playing for the first time since having to withdraw during the final round of THE PLAYERS Championship last month, shot an opening even-par 72 in the first round of the Memorial Tournament presented by Morgan Stanley.

It was hardly a thing of beauty, and certainly by Tiger’s standards, it was not an impressive start at a course in which he’s won four times.

But from a swing standpoint, especially off the tee and with his long irons, Woods felt he made strides. Without the aid of a swing coach — this is his first tournament since Hank Haney resigned — Woods saw things he hadn’t seen before.

Good things, that is.

“I was encouraged at the way I was able to hit a few of the shots today which I haven’t hit all year,” Woods said. “I hit some shots today that the shape, the feel — it felt like it did last year, and I just need to get back to that.

“… But I didn’t do it consistently at all. It’s a starting point. And got to build on it from there.”

Two things, however, prevented Woods from getting the most of his round.

One is the aforementioned wedges. He just did not have them dialed in.

Consider his approach shot at the par-4 third. From 109 yards out, he failed to land his shot inside 25 feet. On the par-5 11th, his third shot from 101 yards out landed 41 feet from the pin. On the par-4 14th, his second shot from 113 yards landed 32 feet away.

“The wedges were horrible today,” Woods said.

Later, he explained: “I was kind of between clubs. They’re perfect sand wedge numbers, but I can’t hit a sand wedge. So it’s going to rip. I had to hit little wedges. I don’t have the feel for it yet. I hit terrible shots. That’s just the way it goes.”

The other negative aspect of Thursday’s round was Woods’ inability to birdie any of the four par 5s at Muirfield Village. He carded pars on all four holes. His closest birdie opportunity was at the seventh hole when he missed from a 12-1/2 foot putt.

“I played the par 5s terrible today,” Woods said. “I played them even par. Can’t play these par 5s even par. You’ve got to take care of the par 5s.”

In fact, just 17 players in the 120-man field failed to birdie at least one of the par 5s in the first round. First-round co-leaders Justin Rose, Rickie Fowler and Geoff Ogilvy each had at least two birdies on the par 5s.

“All the guys that are up there on the board, look at their scorecard, what they did on the par 5s,” Woods said. “They’re all about 3 under par on the par 5s. That’s the biggest difference out there.”

But the good news for Tiger is that he’s back playing. Now the goal is to play all four rounds this week. At even par and tied for 49th, Woods hasn’t given himself much wiggle room when he tees off early Friday morning in the second round.

“I need competitive rounds,” Woods said. “Hopefully I can get myself to where I can make some birdies and get up there.”