Tiger Woods plans to play Masters ‘as of right now,’ but final decision not made

The five-time champion at Augusta Nationwide made the announcement Tuesday morning. He’ll play 9 extra apply holes on Wednesday earlier than making a closing determination, however might be doing so with the intention of enjoying Thursday.

“As of proper now,” Woods stated, “I really feel like I’ll play.”

There had been loads of indicators in latest days that Woods was on the cusp of deciding it was time to play once more. He got here to Augusta Nationwide for a apply spherical final week, then returned Sunday – saying he’d be “a game-time determination” – and Monday for extra. On Tuesday morning, with unhealthy climate within the forecast, he spent loads of time within the apply areas.

“It is nice to be again,” Woods stated.

Woods performed in December on the PNC Problem, a 36-hole scramble on a flat Florida course the place he and his son Charlie completed second to John Daly and his son. Woods was allowed to make use of a cart in that occasion, and when these rounds have been over he flatly dismissed any notion that his sport was tour-ready once more.

“I am unable to compete in opposition to these guys proper now, no,” Woods stated on Dec. 19. “It will take quite a lot of work to get to the place I really feel like I can compete at these guys and be at a excessive stage.”

About 3-1/2 months later, Woods apparently feels otherwise. If he performs, he’ll be within the Masters for the twenty fourth time; he is completed within the prime 5 12 occasions in his earlier 23 appearances.

Thursday’s opening spherical would mark the primary time Woods competes in opposition to the world’s finest gamers since Nov. 15, 2020, which was the ultimate spherical of that yr’s pandemic-delayed Masters.

He had his fifth again surgical procedure two months later and was nonetheless recovering from that on Feb. 23, 2021 when he crashed his SUV over a median on a suburban coastal highway in Los Angeles and down the aspect of a hill.

Woods’ accidents from that crash have been so extreme that docs thought-about proper leg amputation, earlier than reassembling the limb by inserting a rod within the tibia and utilizing screws and pins to stabilize extra accidents within the ankle and foot.

“It has been a tricky, powerful yr … however right here we’re,” Woods stated.