Woods, whose 14 major titles include four Masters green jackets, flirted with the cut line before digging in on the back nine to card a second-round 75.

The 3-over par effort left him 4-over for the tournament — inside the cut, which fell at 5-over.

Reed, meanwhile, emerged from a crowded leaderboard with a 6-under par 66, which gave him a 9-under total of 135.

Reed, seeking his first major championship, birdied three straight holes to start the round and strung together another three birdies heading into the turn to begin to separate himself atop a bunched leaderboard.

Another burst of three straight birdies at 13, 14 and 15 saw him move to 10-under.

Just as his two previous birdie bursts were punctuated by bogeys, Reed dropped a shot at the par-3 16th to see his lead over Australian Marc Leishman trimmed to two.

Leishman fired a 5-under par 67 for 7-under 137.

It was a further two strokes back to former British Open champion Henrik Stenson of Sweden, who carded a 70 for 139, one stroke in front of Jordan Spieth and Rory McIlroy.

World number one Dustin Johnson climbed the leaderboard with a 4-under par 68 for 3-under 141. He was tied with second-ranked Justin Thomas, who can supplant Johnson atop the rankings with a victory on Sunday.

The 28-year-old Dyball, of the St George Continental Cycling team, was in a bunch sprint to the line and did enough to claim the Pink Jersey for the title in a time of 24.01.04, followed by Artem Ovechkin of Malaysia’s Terengganu Cycling Team, on 24:00.20 and Thomas Lebas of Japan’s Kinan Cycling Team in 24:00.22.

Benjamin Dyball, middle, during the race. 

The Australian confirmed his fine form of 2018, having also finished third in the Tour of Langkawi last month. This was his first title since the Tour of Tasmania in 2016. Also it was his first Union Cycliste Internationale (UCI) title.

“I’m very relieved and happy to have held onto the leaders jersey. This is my first UCI tour win so it means a lot to me,” said Dyball who will enter a few smaller races in Australia and a the next UCI race called Tour of Kumano in Japan.

Martin Laas reacts after crossing the line first.

Team Illuminate’s Martin Lass, 24, won his third straight stage, clocking 2:23.15 hours for the 110km from Roi Et. He also earned the Green Jersey as the winner of the Best Sprinter category.

Martin Laas 

However, the Estonian, winner of the 2014 Tour of Estonia, was not even in the top 50 overall after finishing 108th in his least favourite hilly conditions at Khao Yai in Nakhon Ratchasima on Tuesday.

Sarawut Sirironnachai, middle, and his teammates during the award presentation.

Sarawut Sirironnachai, of the Thailand Continental Cycling team, earned the Purple Jersey as Best Asean Rider with a total time of 24:03.13 hours, followed by teammate Turakit Boonratanathanakorn (24:03.19) and Keerati Sukprasert (24:03.24).

Sarawut also helped his team to the Best Asean Team title with a three-man time of 72:10.08 hours, followed by the KFC Cycling Team of Indonesia and 7eleven-Cliqq Road Bike.

The 293km women’s tour takes place in Khon Kaen and surrounding areas from April 8-10.

Britain has suspended high-level diplomatic contact with the Russian government after former Russian spy Sergei Skripal and his daughter Yulia were poisoned with a nerve agent in the southern English city of Salisbury last month.

However, with only around 200 CSKA fans making the long journey west, there was little bad blood inside the ground for the quarter-final first leg.

And Arsenal quickly ended any doubt over the contest on the field as Aaron Ramsey and Alexandre Lacazette both scored twice in the first half to surely put the tie out of CKSA’s reach.

“It was a spectacular first half played at a high pace, but as well an uncomfortable one for me because they looked dangerous,” said Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger.

“By half-time we scored so many great goals in the first half, at 4-1 the target was not to concede anymore and maybe score one more.

“We did the first part of the job but not the second part. But it will help us to focus completely in the second game and not go there thinking it is job done.”

It remains to be seen if a more hostile atmosphere awaits Arsenal fans and players in the Russian capital next week.

However, CSKA coach Viktor Goncharenko encouraged the Gunners’ support and England fans travelling for the World Cup in June to visit Russia.

“We still welcome you in Moscow,” said Goncharenko. “We can assure you there will be great stadiums and great football. Please come to Russia.”

Languishing in sixth in the Premier League, 13 points adrift of the top four, Arsenal’s last realistic hope of qualifying for next season’s Champions League is by winning the Europa League in Lyon on May 16.

And that desperation showed in a thrilling four-goal first 45 minutes.

Ramsey opened the scoring by rounding off a fine team move on nine minutes by firing Hector Bellerin’s cross into the roof of the net.

While CSKA were unable to cope with Arsenal’s speed of thought and movement at the back, they exposed the Gunners’ own defensive weaknesses.

Aleksandr Golovin curled home a wonderful free-kick after haphazard defending from Shkodran Mustafi and Laurent Koscielny to level six minutes later before Ahmed Musa passed up a huge chance to put CSKA in front.

– Atletico in Arsenal’s way –

Arsenal got the slice of fortune they needed when Mesut Ozil was controversially awarded a penalty as he fell under Georgi Schennikov’s challenge.

Lacazette has endured a frustrating debut season at the Emirates, but made the most of the cup-tied Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang’s absence by confidently slamming home from the spot.

Ramsey then doubled his tally for the evening in style with an audacious flick over Igor Akinfeev with the outside of his foot to give Arsenal some breathing space from a teasing Ozil cross.

Ozil was again the creator when Lacazette also grabbed a double by shooting into the far corner for his first goal from open play in nearly three months.

Arsenal are likely to have to beat the might of Atletico Madrid to end their season on a high, though, as the favourites for the competition eased past Sporting Lisbon 2-0 in the first leg of their quarter-final.

Koke put the 2012 winners ahead in the Spanish capital after just 22 seconds and Antoine Griezmann’s 24th goal of the season put Diego Simeone’s men on the brink of a fifth European semi-final in his seven seasons in charge.

Elsewhere, Lazio edged a six-goal thriller 4-2 against Salzburg as all four home sides took an advantage into the second leg.

RB Leipzig lead French giants Marseille 1-0 as German international striker Timo Werner got the only goal for the Bundesliga side.

Woods was back at Augusta National for the first time in three years, finally ready to challenge for a fifth green jacket after spinal fusion surgery last year.

From the practice range to the 18th green, the Augusta fans made him more than welcome, although his one-over par 73 gave them few real opportunities to cheer.

“It has been awesome this entire comeback,” Woods said. “I got a standing ovation on the range. Coming up to the first tee, the people come out of the clubhouse and the putting green, they’re really into it.”

The 14-time major winner grabbed his first birdie with a delicate downhill putt at the third.

He followed, however, with back-to-back bogeys.

There was more trouble lurking around Amen Corner, where Woods was right off the tee at 11 and his shot from the trees hit a fan and dropped into the rough.

“It was a great shot there,” said Woods, who ended up with a bogey. “Unfortunately people ran out and it clipped them. Otherwise it’s just short right of the green, an easy up and down from there, where I was trying to leave it.”

A dip in Rae’s Creek at 12 cost him a shot, although he limited the damage with an impressive 18-foot bogey putt.

He pulled strokes back at 14 and 16 and produced two crisp tee shots at 17 and 18 as he capped his round with a pair of solid pars.

“Seventy-three is fine,” Woods said. “I could have easily let it slip away. And I fought hard to get it back and I’m back in this championship.”

Jordan Spieth of the United States plays a shot on the 17th hole during the first round of the 2018 Masters Tournament.

That bullish assessment came before Spieth caught fire, stringing together five birdies on the back nine as he seized a two-stroke lead over fellow Americans Matt Kuchar and Tony Finau.

The 24-year-old Texan, who has struggled to find consistency on the greens this season, was even through seven after two birdies and two bogeys.

He rolled in a 14-foot eagle at the eighth, and two-putted from 40-feet for a birdie at 13.

He rolled in a nine-footer at 14, and his pitch at 15 left him a four-footer. He made birdie putts of five and seven feet at 16 and 16 before a terrific bogey save at 18 trimmed his lead.

In the trees off the 18th tee, he could only punch out to the fairway, but his fourth shot left him a tap-in.

“I was fortunate to only make five there,” said Spieth, whose wire-to-wire victory in 2015 was sandwiched between runner-up finishes in 2014 and 2016.

“I’m not going to get ahead of myself,” he added. “It’s just about riding momentum.”

– Excruciating ankle pain –

Finau didn’t even know if he’d make it to the first tee after suffering a “pretty excruciating” ankle injury celebrating a hole-in-one in the par-three contest on Wednesday.

He said there was “no way on Earth” he would have foreseen sharing second place.

But once doctors told him he could do no further damage, he was determined to play and was rewarded with a debut Masters round that included six birdies and two bogeys.

Kuchar, two-over through seven holes, had five birdies on the back nine to join him on 68.

Northern Ireland’s Rory McIlroy, who can complete a career Grand Slam with a first Masters victory, headed a group of seven players on three-under 69.

He was joined by Masters newcomer Li Haotong of China, former British Open champion Henrik Stenson of Sweden, Spain’s Rafael Cabrera Bello, Canadian Adam Hadwin and Americans Patrick Reed and Charley Hoffman.

Li, the first Chinese man to crack the top 50 in the world rankings, moved to four-under with an impressive run of three birdies over Augusta’s Amen Corner trio of holes — 11, 12 and 13 — but dropped a shot at 18.

– Garcia nightmare –

Spain’s Sergio Garcia endured a nightmare start in his bid to join Woods, Nick Faldo and Jack Nicklaus as the only players to successfully defend the Masters crown.

Garcia matched the most strokes needed on any hole in Masters history with his 13 at the par-five 15th — where he hit five consecutive balls in the water.

Garcia signed for a nine-over par 81, tied for next to last place with amateur Matt Parziale.

The 24-year-old rider of the Team Illuminate finished first in 4:54.52 hours in the longest stage of the tournament which covered a distance of 229km.

Laas who won the Tour of Estonia in 2015 will wear the Green Jersey in today’s final stage as  the Sprint Rider.

Australian Bejamin Dyball of ST. George Continental Cycling Team still held onto the leader in the overall category with a total time of 21:37.49 hours.

In the Best Asean Rider overall, Sarawut Sirinronnachai of Thailand Continental Cycling Team still produced the overall best time of 21:39.58 hours while Saleh Mohd Zamri of Terengganu Cycling Team from Malaysia  won the individual best ASEAN award of the stage 5 for the second day.

Continental Cycling Team is also  leading in the Best ASEAN Team with 6:00.23 hours followed by KFC Cycling Team of Indonesia and 7Eleven Cliqq Road Bike of the Philippines.

The final stage of Men’s team covers a distance of 110 km, starting from  from the City Hall of Roi Et province and will end  in Khon Kaen province.

Felcons made 52-1 in reply, with wicketkeeper Maruf hitting 32 off just 6 balls including 4 Sixes.

St Francis again achieved victory by a large margin, chasing down 51 to defeat Bristol CC as Aaron Maynard struck 30 off 9 balls.

2017 Shield winners Margate CC (40-1) were knocked out in the group stage by NCL Masters (42-0), with the Yorkshire Puddings (79-3) beating the Lords Taverners (60-2) to secure a place in the semi finals.

In the Bowl Darjeeling of UAE (80-1) defeated the Clifton Hill Tom Cats (64-3), and the Armadillos (71-0) pulled off the surprise of the day to chase down Lanna CC’s 70-1 in just 4.2 overs.

Rain affected play, with additional moisture in the pitch favouring the English teams.

The final game of the day was the last Vase qualifying game, and was a thrilling finish as Blythswood CC (74-1) chased Northern Territory Bush Rangers’ total of 73-1, winning off the final ball of the day! Baldip Bopara was awarded man of the match for a fantastic 28 off just 7 balls, including 3 Sixes.

Missiles were thrown at the bus as it arrived for Wednesday’s first leg at Anfield, which hosts Liverpool won 3-0.

UEFA, European football’s governing body, said it would investigate the setting off of fireworks, the throwing of objects, acts of damage and crowd disturbances.

“The charges of acts of damage and crowd disturbances relate to incidents involving the Manchester City FC team bus,” UEFA said in a statement.

The case will be dealt with by the UEFA control, ethics and disciplinary Body on May 31, it added.

Possible sanctions could range from something as minor as a warning or fine all the way through to ordering a match be replayed and exclusion from future competitions.

Although the incidents took place in streets surrounding Anfield, Article 16 of UEFA’s regulations state that “host clubs and national associations are responsible for order and security both inside and around the stadium before, during and after matches”.

Manchester City coach Manel Estiarte posted footage of the attack on Instagram. The sound of objects striking the vehicle can be heard in the video, filmed from inside the bus as it drives slowly towards the stadium.

His post is accompanied by the comments: “No words. Unacceptable”.

British police have launched an investigation to identify those responsible while making an appeal for video evidence.

Police superintendent Paul White, the match commander, said: “Thankfully, no one on the bus was injured, but injuries were caused to two of our officers when projectiles were thrown towards the bus.

“This behaviour by a number of people who threw bottles, cans and pyrotechnics towards the bus is completely unacceptable and we will conduct enquiries to identify who was responsible and bring them to justice.

“We worked very closely with both clubs to ensure the safety of the public and the teams themselves, and it is disappointing to see that a number of people behaved in this appalling way.”

White added: “Two officers sustained cuts and swelling – one was struck by an object and another suffered glass cut injuries.

“What should have been a celebratory event for thousands of people was spoilt by a number of people who threw bottles, cans and pyrotechnics.”

– ‘Not Liverpool’ –

Liverpool released a statement before the match apologising to City over the incident, saying they would cooperate with the authorities to identify those responsible.

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola questioned the organisation of his side’s arrival at Anfield ahead of the highly-charged match.

“I didn’t expect that,” he said after the game. “I am new here. Normally when the police know that is going to happen, they try to avoid it happening.

“The bus is destroyed. I didn’t expect that a club as prestigious as Liverpool would do these kind of things.

“Of course, it is not Liverpool, it is the people. It was not only one, only two, only three. Hopefully it doesn’t happen again.”//AFP

 The remaining 18 teams were divided into three competitions depending on their results and will compete (in descending order) for the Vase, Plate and Spoon.

The best action of the day came in the afternoon as the first matches in the Cup and the Shield were played. In the top level competition, NCL Dynamites held off a competitive performance from UN Irish Pub to win by ten runs, but it was St Francis de Sales who really caught the eye as they chased down a demanding target of 86 against Kashmir Thunder.

NCL Dynamites from Bangladesh defeated local side the UN Irish.

The two Shield matches were also high class encounters as Got the Runs beat Yorkshire Puddings as Mitchell Ley scored 33* from 10 balls to see them home and Clifton Hill Tom Cats defeated Margate after restricting them to 51 for 5.

The day’s play was finished off by a pair of Ladies Cup matches and the Varee Thai Angels and Central Spirit will now meet in Saturday’s final.

Two own-goals, from Daniele De Rossi and Kostas Manolas, and a close-range finish from Gerard Pique, presented the Catalans with a flattering 3-0 advantage at the Camp Nou before Edin Dzeko snatched Roma a late away goal.

But, just as the Italians looked to have grabbed a lifeline, Luis Suarez restored the three-goal cushion, by scoring a fourth in the 87th minute.

It means Barca will head to Italy next week with a place in the last four firmly in their grasp but this was not a virtuoso attacking display.

Instead, they benefited from two fortuitous own goals and some careless Roma finishing. They are unlikely to meet as generous an opponent in the semis.

“We did not that have continuity in the game,” Valverde said. “We had some errors and there were times that we rushed into the attack, instead of having some control.”

Ernesto Valverde 

Barca also had referee Danny Makkelie to thank for not awarding Roma an early penalty, after Nelson Semedo pushed Dzeko in the back.

“They are already good on their own, they don’t need help,” Roma coach Eusebio Di Francesco said.

“Tonight they had help both from the referee and from us.”

After Cristiano Ronaldo’s spectacular bicycle kick for Real Madrid on Tuesday, even Lionel Messi, back from injury, endured a slightly frustrating night, his shots and dribbles for once meeting opponents rather than the net.

Messi returned to the starting line-up after recovering from his hamstring complaint, as did Sergio Busquets, back after breaking his toe against Chelsea three weeks ago.

But while Messi completed the 90 minutes seemingly unscathed, Busquets had to be replaced by Paulinho midway through the second half.

“Busquets has played with some small discomfort for the injury he has,” Valverde said. “In the end he was suffering a lot and we have changed it, but that’s fine.”

Barca led at half-time after De Rossi slid to prevent Andres Iniesta’s pass reaching Messi and inadvertently stabbed into his own net.

Two goals in four second-half minutes then took the tie away from the visitors as Samuel Umtiti’s finish cannoned off both the post and then Manolas, before Pique sidefooted home from close range.

Dzeko’s finish might have given Roma hope had it not been cancelled out by Suarez scoring a fourth, as Barca wrapped up a win that did not wholly reflect a scrappy performance.

“The truth is we know that in the game we can and we must improve in several points,” Barca’s Ivan Rakitic said.

“But we’re very happy for the work. When maybe you’re not playing at 100 per cent, you have to stay together, to be strong. 5-1 would be better than 4-1, to be more calm, and we know Roma will try to turn it around.”

Liverpool tore City apart with three goals in the opening 31 minutes of the all-English first leg clash at Anfield.

Goals from Mohamed Salah, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Sadio Mane had the Premier League leaders reeling in a frenzied atmosphere.

But, while some will believe that goal spree is enough for Liverpool to start looking forward to the semi-finals, Klopp insisted his players had missed an opportunity to seal the victory ahead of next week’s second leg at Eastlands.

“The first half was brilliant. It was how football should look. We knew about the quality of City but also about our quality as well,” Klopp said.

“The result is not what we expected but we needed to play more football in the second half.

“They did not have a lot of chances but we didn’t play much football ourselves.”

Well aware that City demolished Liverpool 5-0 in the Premier League in Manchester in September, Klopp added: “It is only half-time. 3-0 up, good. We defended their passes really good.

“I wanted us to play more football. I am not angry, it is all good.”

The only clouds on a golden evening for Klopp were a muscle injury to Egypt star Salah and a booking for Jordan Henderson that rules the Liverpool captain out of the second leg.

“We lose one player to injury and another – the captain – to a yellow card so it does not feel good. Mo said he feels good but we will have to see about that,” Klopp said.

It was the first time City had failed to register a shot on target since October 2016.

City boss Pep Guardiola conceded his team could have no complaints after a rare limp display.

“We started with enormous personality but they scored a goal. It is tough. They had 10-15 minutes in the first half when they were better,” he said.

“In the second half we tried everything but we couldn’t find a goal. The first two goals, we had control of the game but they scored.

“I don’t have too many regrets or complaints.

“They had two attacks and scored two goals. That was tough but for the rest of the game we were so, so good. We had to score a goal but they defended more.”

Guardiola was adamant his players still believe they can pull off an incredible comeback in the return leg.

First, City must focus on Saturday’s derby against Manchester United, when a win will give them the English title.

“Nobody believes but we have another game,” Guardiola said.

“We have to accept it and now we have United at home and then Liverpool at home.

“We see what happens. Of course it is difficult but we believe.”