Tiger fighting to be fit for Masters
BAD BACK STILL A MAJOR CONCERN
Tiger Woods is losing the battle to be in any sort of competitive shape for the defence of his Masters title after confirming his absence from the PgA Tour’s showpiece, the Players Championship next week.
As in the political world, Friday afternoon has become the moment when the Woods camp dumps bad news. This was the third Friday out of the last four when Tiger was expected to commit to play in an event. instead, the extent of his latest back problems are starting to become clear as it became the third i rd Friday when he declared himself f unfit to play, this time at sawgrass.
‘Nothing concerning, he’s just not ready to play,’ said his agent Mark k steinberg, in a curt t text. The big question on now is: When will hee be ready to play, including uding Augusta itself?
Woods has playedd onlyl eight i ht rounds of competitive golf this year and, after the Players, there are just three events before the season’s first major.
one of Tiger’s close confidantes is former pro Notah Begay and, on the golf Channel yesterday, he provided some fascinating insight. ‘We’re seeing the ripple effects of a busy finish to 2019 when Tiger hosted his own event in the Hero Challenge and then was the American playing captain at the Presidents Cup,’ he said. ‘The ebbs and flows of dealing with the physical challenges are something he’s going to battle with from now on. it’s just trying to get enough days in a row where he’s feeling good and getting some reps in.
‘if you’re not able to put in the practice, you’re certainly not going to show up at a place like sawgrass and have the requisite skills to defend yourself on a course that exposes everybody.’
You can magnify that by several times, of course, when it comes to the Masters and you are the defending champion. right now, it is becoming clear that his very participation is hanging in the balance.
At the Arnold Palmer invitational at Bay Hill, rather like Liverpool at Watford last week, Tommy Fleetwood did not do things by halves when it came to the end of his proud run of 47 tournaments and almost three years without a missed cut.
Two rounds of 76 meant he failed to make the weekend by miles with a performance so jarringly uncharacteristic it was not surprising there was little left but to resort to black humour.
‘if you’re going to do it, you may as well do it properly and be dreadful on all fronts,’ was the Merseysider’s droll verdict.
His caddie ian Finnis tried to cheer him up, pointing out they do not turn up every week with the aim of just making the cut — but you could tell Fleetwood’s pride was hurt. ‘i know what Finno means, you’d take two wins and two weekends off over four cuts made all day long,’ said Fleetwood. ‘But it was something nice to have, it speaks to a level of consistency that’s getting harder and harder to achieve with the standard so high.’
At the sharp end of the leaderboard, englishman Tyrrell Hatton, out in the more difficult afternoon conditions, followed up his opening 68 with a fine 69 for the halfway lead. it is quite a showing from the 28-year- old from Marlow given he has only just returned to the game after spending 11 weeks on the sidelines following wrist surgery. He said on Thursday that he had missed playing, and it has shown in his skilful negotiation of this perilous, water-laden layout.
rory Mcilroy was enduring a rollercoaster showing. At the eighth he hit a tree with his second shot and shanked his third, on his way to a double bogey. At the next, the most difficult par four on the course, he striped a drive 360 yards, hit a nine iron to six feet and rolled in the birdie putt. He was three shots behind Hatton with three holes to play.