The people who gave up on Tiger Woods were wrong. Way wrong.

They didn't want to watch what was happening to the magnetic young star. They didn't want to see those booming drives end up in the woods, scattering folks and leaves and pollen. They didn't want to keep glancing at the scoreboards and see his score balloon faster than Craig Stadler's waistline.

As his score approached 40 on the front nine Thursday, the massive throng following Woods began to disperse. Gradually at first, then in waves, like baseball fans who leave in the seventh inning with the home team losing. Not even having defending champion Nick Faldo as a playing partner could keep them hanging around.

``I was absolutely horrible out there early on,'' he said. ``I was pretty ticked off after the front nine. I couldn't do anything out there. The fairways are pretty big here, but I sure couldn't hit them. I was all over the place.''

So they gave up, but Woods didn't.

He birdied three of the first four holes on the back nine and eagled the par-5 15th - hitting a wedge into the 500-yard hole's green - on the way to finishing with a 2-under par 70, just three strokes behind leader John Huston. He had a chance to tie the Augusta National Golf Club's back-nine record of 29 - set by Mark Calcavecchia in 1992 - but just missed his birdie putt on 18.

What was the difference? How could he be terribly sporadic for nine holes and so wonderfully consistent on the next nine? How could he go from peppering trees to hitting fairways in seemingly one hole?

``I knew what I was doing wrong, so it was getting out of that and trusting the motion from there,'' said Woods, who had never broken par in six rounds at the Masters and missed the cut last year. ``The tee shot on 10, I felt I was in a good position. I just tried to carry that swing feeling all the way through the back nine, and it worked. I was fortunate enough to have it happen on the 10th tee.''

And guess what? The folks started returning, flocking back to his side, lining up six deep along the fairways. Their comments gradually turned from things like, ``I wonder where he'll hit this one?'' to ``Think he can win this thing?''

``He obviously played great,'' said Faldo, who became an afterthought while limping home with a 3-over 75. ``He struggled at first, but he got his score back. Good luck to him.''

Perhaps Woods should have known something or somebody was on his side on No. 8, when he miraculously saved a bogey out of a situation that could have been much worse.

His drive went deep into the woods along the left side of the fairway, leaving him 20 feet from the fairway, the ball resting on pine straw. However, even with 10 trees between him and smooth green grass, his left foot on a 6-inch curb and his right on the asphalt cart path, he deftly hit a 6-iron onto the fairway. Without even touching a leaf.

``When I looked at it initially, I thought I could go through the trees on the left-hand side,'' Woods said. ``Then I saw a little gap when I looked a little more right. I took the chance and tried to go through this gap, hit the shot, and it went right through.''

Even though Faldo also closed strongly with a 34 coming home, his day was ruined by his front nine. The three-time Masters champion three-putted five times through the first nine holes, and when he saved par by draining a putt on No. 8, Faldo's hands shot skyward in relief.

``I hit it in the wrong place all the way around,'' he said. ``There's not much you can do when you make those mistakes. I did a lot of damage out there. The greens are fast. I didn't judge them at all on the front nine. I think par is a helluva a good score for the day.''