Woods happy with progress despite falling off the pace

Tiger Woods of the U.S. finishes out his round on the 18th green during first round play of the 2018 Masters golf tournament at the Augusta National Golf Club in Augusta, Georgia, U.S., April 5, 2018. REUTERS/Lucy Nicholson

AUGUSTA, Ga (Reuters) - Tiger Woods' return to the U.S. Masters may not be going as spectacularly as his army of supporters had hoped but the 14-times major winner's comeback continued to make steady progress when the American squeaked in under the cut-line on Friday.

After Woods tuned up for his first Augusta visit since 2015 with a pair of top-five finishes, expectations sky-rocketed for the 42-year-old, despite a recent spinal fusion operation that was described as nothing less than a surgical 'Hail Mary'.