Tiger has not given up hope of adding another green jacket
AUGUSTA, Ga. — Tiger Woods still thinks he can win another Masters. Recent evidence would suggest that might be a steeper climb than walking up to the 18th green at Augusta National.
Never mind he is 48 and has had more surgeries than his 15 major titles. Or that in his 10 rounds at the Masters since he won in 2019, he has broken par — and not by much — only three times. Or that his body has allowed him to play only 24 holes of tournament golf this year.
Woods was asked Tuesday what he was capable of doing against Scottie Scheffler and defending champion Jon Rahm, against a field that brings together the best from the PGA Tour and LIV Golf for the first time since July.
“If everything comes together, I think I can get one more,” Woods said. He paused briefly before adding, “Do I need to describe that any more than that, or are we good?”
The answer will start to reveal itself Thursday. As always, there is much curiosity about the one player who once was as predictable as golf allows.
There is a practical side to Woods. He knows the limitations of age and injury because he said he feels it just about every day.
“Some days, I just feel really good,” he said. “Other days, not so much.”
That’s a product of knee surgeries, a fused lower back, a fused ankle. He is not limping as much, like last year when he wound up withdrawing before he could finish the rain-delayed third round at the Masters.
Hovland’s new look: To anyone watching from the outside, Viktor Hovland’s swing one year ago was a thing of beauty, producing crisp, accurate shots that led to an opening-round 65 at the Masters and kept him in contention until the back nine on Sunday.
Helped him win the BMW Championship and Tour Championship in consecutive weeks, too.
But to Hovland, an almost obsessive tinkerer, something wasn’t quite right. And the six-time winner on the PGA Tour began to wonder, in his words, whether he had reached “the pinnacle of what my golf swing was able to do.”
So, he decided to find out.
In a surprising move for a player at the top of the game, Hovland parted with his swing coach, Joe Mayo. He began seeking advice from others, including former professional Grant Waite, and this week — as he returned to Augusta National still in search of his first major championship — Hovland was spotted working with instructor Dana Dahlquist.
Tight squeeze: Inside the clubhouse at Augusta National, after climbing a steep set of green-carpeted stairs, lies the Crow’s Nest, the modest apartment-like accommodations that have been used by amateurs playing in the Masters for decades.
Along with a simple common room and small bathroom are five single beds, three in their own cubicles and two lining the walls of another. Future champions ranging from Jack Nicklaus and Tom Watson to Phil Mickelson and Tiger Woods have stayed in the Crow’s Nest, and stories are told of precocious amateurs secretly padding around the clubhouse long after dark.