Woods’ Debut Is Up to Par : Golf: U.S. Amateur champion shoots a 72 in his first Augusta round.

On the occasion of his first round at the Masters, Tiger Woods got a telegram Thursday.

It was from Charlie Sifford, one of the first four African Americans to play in the Masters.

Since Woods is part Thai, part Chinese, part Shawnee Indian, part black and part Caucasian, he knows something about being a minority, so he took Sifford’s message to heart.

“It said, ‘Just go out there, good luck and don’t get caught up in the hype, the media, what they’re doing. Just go out there and take care of business, play one shot at a time and have fun,’ ” Woods said.

Woods wound up touring Augusta National the hard way. Two over par after five holes, he pulled himself together and finished at even par 72 in a soggy debut.

He bogeyed the first hole after hitting a 30-foot putt 40 feet. Woods chipped back onto the green and had to make a 10-footer, which he did.

On the second hole, he pushed his drive right into some trees, 235 yards from the hole. He clipped a tree with his three-iron shot out, but the ball reached the front of the green, and he two-putted from 45 feet for a birdie.

All in all, it was that kind of up-and-down performance by the 19-year-old U.S. Amateur champion, who kept insisting he is not awed by either the Masters or Augusta National.

“I kept on saying to myself, ‘The game hasn’t changed. You play one shot at a time, low score wins, no matter where you are at,’ ” he said.

Woods was paired with Jose Maria Olazabal, the defending champion, who said he watched many of Woods’ shots.

“I had to use binoculars to see how far the ball was going,” Olazabal said.