AUGUSTA, Georgia: Tiger Woods introduced his boldest Masters bid but on Thursday, a quarter-century after his 12-shot triumph at Augusta Nationwide heralded a brand new technology in golfing. Then, the 21-year-old Woods cemented his celebrity standing with a record-setting victory that made him the youngest Masters winner, nabbing the primary of his present 15 principal titles. His quest for No. 16 comes 14 months after Woods suffered career-threatening accidents to his decrease proper leg in a February 2021 single-car crash in California. The 46-year-old, who has slumped to 973rd on the earth ratings, couldn’t even verify till Tuesday that he deliberate to tee it up, however make no mistake, Woods has his points of interest set on a record-equaling 6th Masters victory.
“I don’t display as much as an match except I believe I will win it,” Woods stated, expressing whole self assurance in each facet of his sport. The problem shall be merely strolling the hilly, 7,510-yard Augusta Nationwide route for 4 immediately days. “That’s going to be the problem, and it’s going to be a problem of a significant marathon,” stated Woods, who was once not able to stroll for months.
Woods teed off on Thursday along South African Louis Oosthuizen and Chilean Joaquin Niemann. Niemann, who received the Woods-hosted Genesis Invitational at Riviera in February, wasn’t born when Woods received his first Masters name in 1997. However he’s amongst a raft of younger golfers whose careers had been impressed through Woods.
Scottie Scheffler, 25, arrived at Augusta ranked primary on the earth after successful his first 3 US PGA Excursion titles within the area of 2 months. Spain’s US Open champion Jon Rahm, 27, can regain the number 1 score he ceded to Scheffler with a primary Masters victory, one in every of 5 avid gamers who can supplant the American this week together with reigning British Open champion Collin Morikawa, US PGA FedEx Cup champion Patrick Cantlay, emerging Norwegian big name Viktor Hovland and Aussie Cameron Smith.
Northern Eire’s four-time major-winner Rory McIlroy shall be attempting for the 8th time to finish a profession Grand Slam with a Masters victory, whilst protecting champion Hideki Matsuyama of Japan is combating health issues as he tries to sign up for Jack Nicklaus, Nick Faldo and Woods as the one avid gamers to win back-to-back Masters titles.
Matsuyama teed off within the team after Woods. Rahm teed off along Cantlay and Will Zalatoris, adopted through Hovland, in a gaggle with Spieth and Tokyo Olympic champion Xander Schauffele. McIlroy was once within the ultimate team of the day along four-time principal winner Brooks Koepka and England’s Matthew Fitzpatrick. The motion legit were given underway when honorary starters Nicklaus, Gary Participant and Tom Watson made the ceremonial first tee pictures, after early morning thunderstorms pressured a 30-minute lengthen.
However all the point of interest is on Woods, and whether or not he can pull off essentially the most miraculous comeback but in a profession marked as a lot through his gritty decision to defy ache as through his chic ability. “It’s superb when you consider the place he was once at a yr in the past to now, I don’t know what number of people, if anyone, may well be out right here,” stated 2015 Masters winner Jordan Spieth. “However is anyone shocked?” Woods received the 2008 US Open with a damaged leg, then battled thru 5 again surgical procedures, together with eventually a spinal fusion, prior to he received his fifteenth principal name on the 2019 Masters. “I imply, what number of comebacks has he had?” Spieth marveled.
Bombing it
Fred {Couples}, the 1992 Masters champion who has performed his proportion of rounds – and neglected his proportion as neatly – with again bother, stated Woods “regarded out of the ordinary” in follow rounds that had consumers at Augusta Nationwide humming with pleasure. “What impresses me essentially the most is he was once bombing it,” {Couples} stated of Woods’s period off the tee.
Former PGA Champion Justin Thomas, who Woods refers to as his “little brother” on excursion, says Woods’s sport is “lots, lots just right sufficient to play neatly”. So Woods will as soon as once more defy the ache and take a look at to defy the percentages to transport one step nearer to Nicklaus’s all-time list of 18 principal titles. He would grow to be the third-oldest principal winner in historical past and would surpass Nicklaus because the oldest Masters winner through a question of weeks.
“I really like competing,” Woods stated of his motivation. “And I think like if I will nonetheless compete on the very best degree I’m going to. And if I think like I will nonetheless win, I’m going to play.” And does that imply he believes he can produce his very unlikely triumph so far this Sunday? “I do,” Woods stated. – AFP