AUGUSTA, Ga. — Tiger Woods’ 91st competitive round at the Masters will begin like any other.
Shortly after 11 a.m. Thursday, the five-time champion will sink his tee into the ground at Tea Olive, the name of Augusta National’s first hole, take some practice swings and continue a familiar walk that began more than a year ago. fifteen minutes. one century ago.
It’s what happens when Woods puts his driver back in his bag that will determine whether his surgically reconstructed right leg – or the rest of the 46-year-old Hall of Famer for that matter – is ready for a test like no other to which he is confronted. his career.
The approximately five-mile boardwalk between the Georgia pines at Augusta National has more than 11,000 steps up and down and back again. It requires hitting shots from uneven lies. To dig in the pine straw when necessary. To try to get past bunkers that can be so deep – as is the case on the par-3 fourth hole – you have to jump if you want to see the flag.
No one but Jack Nicklaus navigated the sprawling course as well as Woods. No active player knows the contours of every inch of perfectly manicured Bermuda grass so well.
That’s why Woods wasn’t complaining when he said on Tuesday “walking is the hardest part.” It just states a fact. And he’s not the only one who knows how physically draining competing at the Masters can be.
Two-time US Open champion Curtis Strange left the tournament with shin splints. And Strange didn’t have to do that working with a leg stuffed with rods and plates, metal detectors shudder when they see you coming around the corner.
“You know, 72 holes is a long road, and it’s going to be a tough challenge and a challenge that I’m up for,” Woods said.
At least in theory. He hasn’t played 18 holes at Augusta National on consecutive days since shredding his leg in a car crash in February 2021 that led doctors to consider amputation. Now he’s asking the same stage that has anchored 15 major championships and a PGA Tour record 82 wins to go four rounds in the space of about 81 hours.
That doesn’t even include the warm-up or cool-down, routines that take far longer than when he worked his way up to his first green jacket 25 years ago.
That’s a lot to ask. Yes, it’s just walking. Only this is no ordinary walk. And this is no ordinary week. For Woods or anyone else.
“I think most of the stress we have is probably more mental than physical,” said world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler, who at 25 was born less than a year before Woods won his first Masters title. .
The stress is no longer between Woods’ ears, but under his feet. Elevation changes are nearly constant from your first hit. Go down the hill to the first fairway, then back up to the green. Down a hill again at #2. Rolling terrain at #3. An elevated tee at #4. Uphill almost to #7. Same as #8. A climb to the bend at No. 9.
The back nine is a mess. The 10th fairway could be used as a ski slope. Another hike on the 11th in Amen Corner. The 12th and 13th offer some respite. Mounds and a sloping fairway on the 14, where a flat lie is basically a myth. A gentle descent to the 15th green. The 16th offers respite, before the 17th tee begins a final climb towards the clubhouse.
Woods admits his mobility is so limited that he ditched Nike cleats for FootJoys because they offered more comfort. He hopes the adrenaline-fueled rush from the first crowd to come to Augusta since his titanic victory in 2019 will help him get through this.
Yet golf remains golf. Throw in the crucible that is the Masters and Woods knows adversity is inevitable. He stressed that he would not come back just to fill in the fields. It’s just not his way. He’s not going to ask his leg to just help him move, but to stand on the 18th green on Sunday late afternoon and ask Hideki Matsuyama to drape a sixth green jacket over his shoulders.
It seems impossible. This may very well be impossible.
“When I decide to hang up when I feel like I can’t win anymore, then that will be it,” he said. “But I feel like I can still do it, and I feel like I still have the hands to do it, the body is moving pretty well. I’ve been in worse situations and I’ve played and won tournaments.
Yes and no. He won the 2008 US Open at Torrey Pines basically on one leg. However, he was then only 32 years old. He’s over 60 now that brilliant Father’s Day weekend in the sun at his home in California.
The mind remains voluntary. It’s been since he first dived into the ropes at Augusta as an amateur in 1995.
It’s the rest of him, especially the right ankle that will have to bear so much weight – including the internal and external expectations that arise when your name happens to be Tiger Woods – that will determine whether this long walk will be wasted.
“I don’t have to worry about the ball hitting or the game of golf, it’s really just the hills here,” he said. “It’s going to be the challenge, and it’s going to be the challenge of a big marathon.”
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