“If everything comes together, I think I can get one more,” says the five-time champion of the year’s first golf major
Every time Tiger Woods steps out of the flat tee boxes to the undulating terrain of Augusta National Golf Club, it’s a challenge. However, that hasn’t changed his determination one bit to step into a Masters green jacket for a record-equalling sixth time this week.
The fairways and greens here have severe slopes. Anything not hit from the tee area seems to be played with either the ball way above your feet, or below. And that creates an extension of Woods’ fused ankle, which leads to discomfort and pain in other parts of his battered and sutured body.
The 15-time major champion went into great detail about the state of his physical health and the challenges that he faces. But ask him about his chances of winning a sixth green jacket on Sunday, and you can sense the resolve: “If everything comes together, I think I can get one more.”
Tiger Woods, 48, has never doubted his abilities and the shot-making and creativity is definitely intact. It’s just that he can have some good days with his body, and some very painful ones.
“As far as my physicality on certain shots, every shot that’s not on a tee box is a challenge,” said Woods, who made the cut last year but withdrew after aggravating plantar fasciitis in his right foot.
“It’s daily adaption. We work at it every day, whether it’s trying to loosen me up or strengthen me or just recovery.
“My practice sessions certainly aren’t what they used to be. I used to live on the range or on a short game facility and just be out there all day. That’s no longer the case. I just have to be more focused on when I do get a chance to go out there and practice and really grind out and make every shot count because I just don’t have the ball count in me anymore.
“I’ve made those adaptations for this week.”
Woods played nine holes of practice on Tuesday with Fred Couples, something which has become an annual affair for the two. If Woods makes the cut, it will be a record 24 straight made at the Masters, breaking a tie with Couples and Gary Player.
Couples, the 1992 Masters champion, laughed at a suggestion that Woods might be looking at only breaking the record and had a very upbeat forecast for his fans.
“Last year, it was so bad that a lot of things just wore him down – playing in that rain, moving around slowly, sluggish. The tee times where maybe he couldn’t get work done. But this year, he looks strong, and he’s excited to play, and he looks really, really good,” said Couples.
“I will say this… the last thing he’s thinking about is making the cut. Can he win here? Yeah. I just watched him play nine holes, and it’s on a Tuesday, and he never mis-hit a shot. But the idea of making a cut, I think he would laugh at that because he’s here to win. He’s here to play really hard.”
The one factor that works out very well for Woods is his intimate knowledge of the intricacies of Augusta National Golf Club. He knows which parts of the course to hit his balls, and more importantly, which parts to avoid.
“It’s an understanding of how to play this golf course. That’s one of the reasons why you see players that are in their 50s and 60s make cuts here, or players in their late 40s have runs at winning the event…just the understanding of how to play it,” said Woods, who has 14 top-10s in 25 starts, and missed his only cut when competing as an amateur in 1996.
“You still have to go out and execute the shots, but there’s a lot of knowledge that goes into understanding how to play it.”
Woods said there was a very simple explanation why he was still putting his body through the wringer.
“I love golf. I do. I played other sports growing up, but I just have always loved this sport. I love to compete,” said Woods.
“It’s been my life. I started playing at nine months. So, I’ve done it pretty much my entire life. And to be able to have the love I have for the game and the love for competition be intertwined, I think that’s one of the reasons why I’ve had a successful career.
“I just love doing the work. I love logging the time in, and I love preparing. I love that feeling when everything’s on fire with a chance to win.”
