A who’s who of the most emblematic golfers in the world gathered in Augusta on Tuesday for the annual dinner of the champions of the masters.
The legends of the game, notably Arnold Palmer and Gary Player, put on their seminal green jackets for a dinner with dishes selected by the 2024 tournament champion, Scottie Scheffler. The menu included cheeseburger cursors and firecracker shrimp.
It is an annual tradition like no other, but there was a notable absence: the five -time champion of the masters Tiger Woods.
Woods, 49, jumped for this year and should not be in Georgia for the first historic major of the year.
This aroused questions and concerns among fans to explain why he and his new girlfriend Vanessa Trump, 47, were absent.
Woods is always recovering from an Achilles tendon broken to the left ankle, an injury he suffered as she trained at home. He seems convalescent in Florida.
But sources close to the legendary golfer tell the Daily Mail that he wanted to respect the event and not to overshadow someone else with his presence.
Woods, they say, is also still in shock from the death of her mother, Kultida Woods, in February and wants to maintain her relationship with President Donald Trump’s former daughter-in-law.
Tiger Woods missed the champions dinner of the emblematic masters in Augusta on Tuesday evening, leaving the fans wondering why the legendary golfer – and the new flame Vanessa Trump – were absent
Friends say Woods didn’t want her romance to Vanessa Trump to be a “distraction”
“Masters are a question of tradition and not to defile a program or your new girlfriend,” said an initiate. “Tiger does not want to be a distraction, especially since it does not play.”
“He saw the Brouhaha media when he came out that he and Vanessa were coming out together, and he didn’t want to bring this to Augusta,” another source told Daily Mail.
“It would become a show and Tiger is now trying to avoid as much circuses as possible.
“He considers Augusta – and the masters specifically – like a sacred soil, and he does not need to transform it into something on Tiger Woods and the ex -Belle de de de de du President.”
The source said that Woods “also tries to minimize the coverage of news” for the good of their two children, who are still accumulating in the new relationship.
“It is a lot to take, and the last thing he wanted is that the media glowed photos of him and Vanessa at dinner. So he jumped.
In March, the Daily Mail exclusively revealed that the former world number one was released with Vanessa, the ex-wife of Donald Trump Jr.
A few days after the revelation, the major winner 15 times published affectionate photos with his girlfriend on Instagram – he was his only public mention of their relationship.
The Daily Mail confirmed that Woods and Trump have come out together from Thanksgiving.
They live 20 minutes apart in the rich enclave in the south of Florida de Palm Beach, and were spotted together during a golf tournament in February.
But fans have taken note of their absence this time.
The Masters organizers shared the photo of this year of Augusta winners during the 2025 rally.
And even if it was a photo filled with champions, the absence of Woods was the most striking aspect, especially given the way in which the fans were desperate to obtain the golfer a month after his devastating injury.
He won the Masters for the last time in 2019, capping an incredible return after persistent back problems and roller coaster in his personal life – including revelations that he deceived to the wife Elin Nordegren with several women.
Historically, it was a must in the tournament, it only missed it in 2021 following a horrible car car accident in California. Woods was injured, including a crushed leg, which led to months of exhausting surgeries and rehabilitation which included the insertion of a metal rod in its legs and its ankle screws and pins.
The accident was so bad that the Sheriff of the County of Los Angeles, Alex Villanueva, said that Woods had the “chance of being alive” after the accident.
This year, however, he was not completely not involved: Woods made a video appearance to announce that he is building a Par-3 course in Augusta.
Fans have raised concerns about his health, with a social media user publishing on x that he did not seem well ” in the video.
The initiates tell the Daily Mail that he is focused on the laser on his health and still plans to return.
“He rehabilitates himself because the next time he will be at the Masters, he wants to be there to play,” said our first source, adding that if he and Vanessa are still together, she would be welcome to join him.
In March, the Daily Mail exclusively revealed that the former world number one was released with Vanessa Trump, the ex-wife of Donald Trump Jr.
Friends say Woods also cry the loss of her mother, Kultida Woods (right)
“He is still in shock from the death of his mother,” said the first source. “He will gradually introduce Vanessa into his world, but at the moment, he is dealing with internal things until he is in a better place emotionally and physically.
“Even Tiger needs a break in his world, and he uses this time to understand everything.”
“Tiger does nothing that he does not want to do at this stage,” adds the second source “and he simply did not want to go to the masters’ dinner.
“It was not for lack of respect. He had his reasons. He just didn’t want to go.
