AUGUSTA, Ga. — The most improbable of sports comebacks is underway.
Tiger Woods, fewer than 14 months removed from a catastrophic car accident that threatened his ability to walk, confirmed Tuesday that he intends to play in the Masters this week in pursuit of his sixth green jacket.
“As of right now I feel like I am going to play,” he said. “I’m going to play nine more [practice] holes [Wednesday]. My recovery has been good.”
The news followed half a practice round by Woods on Monday during which he drew a gallery of thousands that was at least five layers deep from tee to green.
“It’s been a tough, tough year and lot of stuff that I had to deal with that I don’t wish on anyone,” he said, “but here we are at Masters week.”
Asked if he feels he can win the tournament, Woods replied, “I do.”
Woods, whose 15 major championships are second to the 18 of Jack Nicklaus, has won five green jackets. His first came 25 years ago at the 1997 Masters when, at age 21, he posted a 12-stroke win that still stands as the tournament’s largest margin of victory.
He would go on to win the Masters in 2001, ’02, ’05 and, in a career resurgence for the ages, 2019. That stirring victory three years ago was not only the first majors win for Woods in 11 years but was an improbable revival from a string of personal scandals that sullied his once-pristine image, as well as four back surgeries that once left him unable to get out of bed.
But the latest comeback is even more impressive. It appeared Woods would never return to competition after a horrific car accident in February 2021. He was in Los Angeles, traveling at a high rate of speed, and lost control of his SUV, which rolled multiple times before coming to a halt. The crash occurred on a curvy and steep stretch of Hawthorne Boulevard on the Palos Verdes Peninsula.
Police said Woods was lucky to be alive and was extracted from the crushed vehicle with injuries that included a shattered ankle and two leg fractures.
The lingering effects of those injuries were evident more than a year later Monday when Woods somewhat rigidly walked nine holes with Fred Couples and Justin Thomas, drawing a massive roving gallery reminiscent of the final group on a Masters Sunday.
Couples said he was particularly impressed by Woods’ length off the tee and said he has been communicating with him for months but hasn’t wanted to press him on when he might return to competition.
So even after he recently saw a picture someone took of Woods playing without a cart at Medalist Golf Club in Hobe Sound, Fla., Couples didn’t inquire further.
“That’s not how we work,” Couples said. “I love him as one of my best friends and I want to damn keep it that way, and I don’t pry into anything he does, but most of the texts were about his kids. Charlie got fitted for new clubs, his daughter, the speech, his daughter playing in soccer, and then all of a sudden he said, `I’m going to go to Augusta,’ — because he loves JT [Justin Thomas] and I and he wants to play these little practice rounds. That was his goal.”
Tiger Woods waits to hit on the driving range during a practice round for the Masters Canada’s Mackenzie Hughes, playing in his third Masters, had an inkling Woods would try to play in the tournament back in December, when Woods played in the PNC Championship Pro-Am with his 13-year-old son, Charlie.
“Now, I knew he was riding in cart, and he has to walk Augusta National, but I just thought that he had that in his mind probably that that would be a pretty cool way to come back,” Hughes said.
But Hughes conceded he had second thoughts about that last month when he attended the World Golf Hall of Fame ceremony and saw Woods, a new inductee, limp onstage.
“I thought, `This guy doesn’t look like he’s ready to play,’” Hughes said. “But he’s gotten himself ready, and we’re obviously excited to have him here.”
Max Homa, whose Genesis Invitational win at Riviera happened just before Woods’ accident, marveled at the will and determination of the world’s most famous golfer.
“It is a true testament to his work ethic because we all know what he does on the golf course, how hard he works, and the stories and the legend,” Homa said of Woods. “But sitting there and doing all that [physical therapy] is — that’s got to be just boring at the very least, let alone hard.
“It reminds me of the documentary `Muse’ with Kobe Bryant after he pops his Achilles. It’s just him picking up marbles with his toes and putting it in, and he’s doing it way more than anyone else would do. That’s what I imagine Tiger is doing, just like the most reps you possibly can to get ready. It’s remarkable really.”
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