Tiger Woods plans to play at the Masters Tournament, which begins April 7 and runs through April 10. Since last week, Woods has been practicing at the Augusta National Golf Club with his son Charlie and close friend and pro golfer Justin Thomas. He practiced Monday and Tuesday before holding a press conference with reporters.
When asked at the press conference about his intentions regarding the tournament, Woods paused for a moment before answering.
“As of right now, I feel like I am going to play,” he told reporters.
Woods added that he still plans to practice on Wednesday, before Thursday’s first round. If he does play in the tournament, it would be his first high-level event since the Masters held in 2020.
When asked if he believed he could win the tournament, Woods responded, “I do.”
“I can hit it just fine,” Woods said. “I don’t have any qualms about what I can do physically from a golf standpoint. It’s now walking [that] is the hard part. This is normally not an easy walk to begin with. Now, given the conditions that my leg is in, it gets even more difficult. You know, 72 holes is a long road, and it’s going to be a tough challenge and a challenge that I’m up for.”
Woods is coming back after shattering bones in his right leg after being involved in a car crash in February 2021. As a result of the accident, Woods has a rod in his tibia as well as screws and pins in his ankle to stabilize his injuries.
Woods is scheduled to tee off in the first round at 10:34 a.m. ET on Thursday with Louis Oosthuizen and Joaquin Niemann. The threesome will start Friday’s second round at 1:41 p.m. ET in the third-to-last group of the day.
“I love competing, and I feel like if I can still compete at the highest level, I’m going to, and if I feel like I can still win, I’m going to play,” Woods said. “But if I feel like I can’t, then you won’t see me out here. You guys know me better than that.”
“I don’t show up to an event unless I think I can win it,” he added.
The comeback for 46-year-old Woods is miraculous, given that in November, he told Golf Digest that he would likely never compete on the PGA Tour regularly again.
“I think something that is realistic is playing the Tour one day — never full time, ever again — but pick and choose, just like Mr. [Ben] Hogan did. Pick and choose a few events a year, and you play around that,” Woods told Golf Digest. “You practice around that, and you gear yourself up for that. I think that’s how I’m going to have to play it from now on. It’s an unfortunate reality, but it’s my reality. And I understand it, and I accept it.”
Woods has played the Masters 23 times, winning it five times and finishing in the top ten 14 times. He first won the tournament in 1997 at the age of 21 and again during a career comeback in 2019 at age 43. Woods also won the Masters in 2001, 2002, and 2005.
Other storylines to watch for in the Masters include defending Masters champion Hideki Matsuyama, who is also dealing with injuries. Matsuyama will play in the group behind Woods in the first round, teeing off at 10:45 a.m. ET Thursday with Thomas and amateur James Piot.
Matsuyama skipped The Players Championship that began on March 10 with an injury and withdrew from last week’s Texas Open with one as well. He has not finished an event since the Arnold Palmer Invitational in early March. If Matsuyama wants to become just the fourth golfer ever to win the Masters in back-to-back years, it appears he will have to do it while not being at 100%.
The course itself has also been modified. The right side of the fairway on hole No.11 was opened up, and the tee boxes on both No.11 and No.15 were moved back. Rory McIlroy said it would create more difficulty, at least for No.11.
“The green complexes are the same, but the surrounds of the green are much more penal, so that sort of bail-out to the right is much more difficult than it used to be,” said McIlroy. “Overall, I think it’s going to play tougher than it has in previous years, and it was already one of the toughest holes on the course.”
Mcllroy himself will be hoping to complete the ‘career slam,’ winning at all four major tournaments. Mcllroy has won at the other three but has never earned a Masters win. If he does pull off the win, he will join Woods, Jack Nicklaus, Gary Player, Ben Hogan, and Gene Sarazen as the only men to win all four major championships.
Mcllroy will tee off for the first round at 2:03 p.m. ET with Matthew Fitzpatrick and Brooks Koepka.
It will also be the first opportunity for the newest No.1-ranked golfer, Scottie Scheffler, to show he is the world’s legitimate No.1-caliber player. Scheffler will tee off for the first round at 10:56 a.m. ET with Adam Scott and Tony Finau.
This year’s tournament will also be the first time the crowd could reach maximum capacity since Woods won in 2019. Last year, capacity was limited, and in 2020, crowds were nonexistent.