The problem is, no one could see much improvement during the first round of the Frys.com Open.
"It's easy to do at home," he said. "It's a little harder to do out here."
So the former No. 1 player needed to prove himself Friday, if only to avoid missing the cut. The result was hardly magical, but Woods sank just enough putts and steered past just enough bunkers to shoot a respectable three-under-par 68 at the CordeValle Golf Club.
At one under, he is safe, although a portion of the field will finish a weather-shortened second round Saturday.
"I don't like missing cuts," Woods said. "Period."
As for actually contending, that would require a much bigger jump.
Paul Casey holds the lead at eight under, a performance made all the more impressive by the fact that he still feels jet-lagged after winning in South Korea last week and has been "waking up in the middle of the night, which is probably the middle of the day."
The English golfer gave at least some credit to improving conditions at CordeValle. Several days of rain — and two-plus hours of fog delay Friday — gave way to sunny skies all afternoon.
"The greens were prefect," Casey said. "You're not going to get greens any better."
That might have helped Woods, too, his balky putter settling down.
"I hit one bad putt . . . and that was it," he said. "Every other putt was on line."
It was a much-needed development. After a miserable performance at the PGA Championship in August — and some time off to get healthy — he faced missing two cuts in a row for the first time in his professional career.
Starting on the back nine, Woods birdied 11, 14, 15 and 16. There was a hiccup on 18 with a bad tee shot that led to a bogey, but a well-hit five-wood on his final hole, the ninth, set up another birdie.
Casey, who estimated that his injury was 70 percent healed, is playing this week to reach the 15-tournament minimum he needs to keep his PGA Tour playing privileges.
“I’m glad I came,” said Casey, who is competing in his 14th event. He added, “My primary concern is getting healthy, but I have to play my 15 as well, and I’ll be playing next week as well to make sure I fulfill that obligation.”
The 35-year-old Woods is competing for the first time in seven weeks, since missing the cut at the P.G.A. Championship, and he could not stomach the idea of another short work week after a seemingly endless string of 10-hour practice days.
“The number was 64 today, that was kind of the goal,” Woods said. “That was my mind-set.”
It seemed well within reach when Woods made three consecutive birdies on his front nine, but he gave back two of those strokes after hooking his drives at his ninth and 10th holes on his way to bogeys.
Woods blamed his misses on bad posture, but there was nothing wrong with his position at the end of two days. When the second round was suspended by darkness — 53 competitors were still on the course — Woods was in the middle of the pack.
“I had it going early there, three in a row to get three under par for the day,” Woods said.
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