AUGUSTA (Georgia) (AFP) Tiger Woods doesnt appear to be feeling such massive shame, guilt or remorse over cheating on his wife with multiple mistresses that its hurting his golf game. In fact, as day two of the 74th Masters dawned Friday at Augusta National Golf Club, rivals seem to be correct who predicted the sex scandal that forced Woods into a five-month layoff would also make him tougher to defeat. Off to his lowest start in 16 Masters appearances, world number one Woods fired a four-under par 68 Thursday to lurk only two strokes behind 50-year-old leader Fred Couples as the second round began Friday morning. Unfortunately I didnt putt very good or it could have been a very special round, said Woods, who lipped out for birdie at 18 and eagle at 13 among several near-misses in his long-awaited return round. It was a special round anyway for reasons far beyond the score, although Woods also fired two eagles in the same round for the first time at Augusta National. Guess I need a longer layoff then, Woods joked. Woods answered doubts about his ability to set aside a humbling scandal in which more than a dozen women have claimed sex affairs and return to dominating golf form, but knows he must do more to win his 15th career major on Sunday. Well see what happens, Woods said. I feel like Im in the right spot. Anybody can win this event so weve got some work to do. So do his rivals, who saw Woods set aside the scandal distraction and produce his most intimidating start yet at a course where he has won four times in his quest to break the all-time major win record of 18 by Jack Nicklaus. You wonder how he could have competed at such a high level with all this going on, world number two Steve Stricker said. Its actually scary to think that if he gets his mind a little bit free and uncluttered that it could be better. The guy is so talented and mentally strong that if he can maybe get rid of the outside factors, he could actually perform at a higher level. Couples was set for a 9:40 Friday morning start (1340 GMT) with Woods teeing off 55 minutes later and most other leaders set for afternoon starts on a course soaked by overnight rain. US legend Tom Watson, at 60 coming off a 2009 British Open runner-up run, shared second on 67 with Englands Lee Westwood, US star Phil Mickelson and South Korean 2009 PGA Championship winner Yang Yong-Eun who all tee off in the afternoon and South Korean K.J. Choi, who is playing alongside Woods. Elin Woods was not among the thousands who gathered to watch her husband make his much-anticipated comeback to competitive golf after his tawdry secret sex affairs exploded into global gossip headlines last November. But Kultida Woods, his Thai-born mother, was among those who walked along the famed course watching her son receive what he dubbed the best reception he has ever enjoyed at any Masters. And Woods has been greeted greatly many times, having won the green jacket symbolic of Masters supremacy four times, most recently in 2005. It was at Augusta where Woods won the first major triumph by a black golfer in 1997 in record-shattering fashion, his success helping prod numerous layout changes in the decade that followed. Woods also drew rave ovations in 2001 when he completed the Tiger Slam by winning the Masters, giving him four consecutive major triumphs, albeit not in the one-year chronological order of the traditional grand slam sweep. Taunting airplane messages unseen by Tiger Tiger Woods said he never noticed the airplane taunts at hime flown above Augusta National Golf Club on Thursday during his return from a five-month absence in the wake of a sex scandal. World number one Woods admitted cheating on wife Elin and more than a dozen women have claimed sexual affairs with the golf superstar, who took a hiatus to deal with the matter before returning during the first round of the Masters. Woods was on the first green on his way to an opening par when a plane flew above the famed course with a banner pulled behind it reading, Tiger, Did You Mean Booty-ism? The play on words referred to Woods saying he was going to return to his Buddhism roots to try and find an inner peace and balance he said he lost to a sense of entitlement during his secret sex life romps, booty being a slang term used regarding sex and sexual attraction. Later, a plane flew over the course with the banner that read: Sex Addict? Yeah. Right. Sure. Me Too While Woods has not claimed sexual addiction, he did spend 45 days in a treatment facility for an unspecified problem that media reports have said was sex addiction. Woods said he didnt see the signs but when it came to someone spending to money to poke fun at him by using an airplane message, Woods was unimpressed. It wouldnt be the first time, he said. When it comes to Buddhism, the religion taught him by his Thai mother Kultida, Woods said it has made a difference to him and will continue to do so as he tries to change his life. I felt very much so, he said. Thats just through a lot of the works, a lot of my meditation, and that is where it all stemmed from before. I have to go back to my roots.