He almost never plays, but he is always in the news. Before the 2024 Masters, which will begin this Thursday at the exclusive Augusta National club, there is much talk about the participation of Tiger Woods, who last took part in a PGA Tour tournament in mid-February, at the Genesis Invitational, when he withdrew after the first round with flu symptoms.
Aside from his constant ailments, It is already confirmed that the former No. 1 will play in the first major of the year, from the moment he officially appears on the pre-contest interview schedule: he will speak to the press on Tuesday at 11, local time. A real peace of mind for the green jacket organizers, who will observe interesting peaks in TV ratings with the mere presence of the great figure, even if his performance is poor and he once again shows physical impediments.
There are multiple rumors and comments. A friend assured that his preparation includes abstaining from sexual relations. “He is focused,” confided a close friend in a note to the New York Post. “He is working very hard in the gym. He is eating well. He has even eliminated sex. He does it now when he’s getting ready: no sex until the tournament is over. He doesn’t want anything to take away his concentration.”
Woods is single after a six-year relationship with Erica Hermanhis ex-girlfriend who sought to sue him for $30 million in an attempt to get rid of a confidentiality agreement that the star had made him sign in 2017, when that love story started. According to her, the agreement should have been annulled when she reported that there was evidence of sexual assault and harassment, until the woman abandoned the case last November. Much further back in time, in 2009, Tiger admitted to having had multiple sexual affairs, which led to a global press conference with his “mea culpa” and the irreconcilable separation from his wife, Elin Nordegren, mother of his children, Sam. Alexis and Charlie Alex.
Woods’ love affair with the Masters is well known. It is the competition that gives him all his life, after having obtained the green jacket five times. It was on that course of magnolias and azaleas that Tigermania began (1997), when he was just a young man who broke the record for the greatest margin of strokes with respect to the second (12), after 72 holes. The same stage where in 2019 he won his 15th major and staged one of the most shocking comebacks in the history of the sport. But it is the first time that he shows it to her so fully and determinedly, at least from his inner circle.
Nothing suggests that Woods will be able to live up to his parchments this week. At the end of last year he announced that he hoped to compete once a month in 2024, so he decided not to play the Arnold Palmer Invitational, which he won eight times, or The Players, in which he triumphed in two seasons and is popularly considered “the fifth major.” In addition to the problem noted at the Riviera Country Club in Los Angeles during the Genesis Invitational, where he had to be administered an intravenous bag to replace fluids, in early March he played a single round in the Seminole Pro-Member. All bumpy and discontinuous, very far from the competitive pace that his colleagues lead.
The dilemma comes to the fore once again and is measured in yards: can you walk through four rounds of golf? Since his near-fatal car accident in 2021, in which he suffered serious injuries to his lower right leg, Woods has struggled with countless physical setbacks and his body has noticeably deteriorated. “He is trying to formulate a strategy and an approach that he can work with given the landscape that is presented to him. And he has some limitations,” Notah Begay III, his teammate in his first serious steps in golf at Stanford University, told USA Today. “He has no mobility in one ankle and now he suffers from complications in his lower back, which he knew he was going to have,” added the former Navaja blood player.
Such was the extent of his injuries that the 15-time Major champion reshaped his FootJoy shoes to gain additional support for his ankle. “For the last few months he has been trying to find a way to recover,” Begay said. “He can play golf. We always knew that the question was going to be: ‘Will he be able to walk the 72 holes’? That’s still up in the air. And even: Can he recover from one round to the next? It’s the most important answer that I really don’t know and he won’t know either until he goes out on the course and sees if the way he prepared for the Masters works for him.”
Last week, flight-tracking sites on social media showed Woods’ plane flying to Augusta Airport for a supposed pre-tournament practice session with friend and PGA Tour teammate Justin Thomas and PGA Tour president club, Fred Ridley. Always, in one way or another, the star looked for a way to be part of the first major of the year, even though he had to make extreme efforts and was aware that his performance, in recent times, could be symbolic.
Tiger’s most recent history in the Masters is not encouraging: due to the physical pain that had been afflicting him since the first round, he decided to withdraw from the 2023 event. On Saturday he played 14 holes in the middle of the rain, with enormous difficulties to move, until suspension. On Sunday he was supposed to complete 29 holes, but he decided to withdraw. Now, the question surrounding the legend increases again at 48 years old, although at least he will try. Thousands of his fans thank him for his efforts.