AUGUSTA, Ga. — Tiger Woods says, for now anyway, that he’s planning to play this week in the Masters.
The five-time champion at Augusta National made the announcement Tuesday morning. He will play nine more practice holes on Wednesday before making a final decision but will be doing so with the intention of playing Thursday.
“As of right now,” Woods said, “I feel like I’m going to play.”
There had been plenty of signals in recent days that Woods was on the cusp of deciding it was time to play again. He came to Augusta National for a practice round last week, then returned Sunday — saying he’d be “a game-time decision” — and Monday for more. On Tuesday morning, with bad weather in the forecast, he spent plenty of time in the practice areas.
“It’s great to be back,” Woods said.
Woods played in December at the PNC Challenge, a 36-hole scramble on a flat Florida course where he and his son, Charlie, finished second to John Daly and his son. Woods was allowed to use a cart in that event, and when those rounds were over, he flatly dismissed any notion that his game was tour-ready again.
“I can’t compete against these guys right now, no,” Woods said on Dec. 19. “It’s going to take a lot of work to get to where I feel like I can compete at [with/against] these guys and be at a high level.”
About 3½ months later, Woods apparently feels differently. If he plays, he’ll be in the Masters for the 24th time; he has finished in the top five 12 times in his previous 23 appearances.
Thursday’s opening round would mark the first time Woods would be competing against the world’s best players since Nov. 15, 2020, which was the final round of that year’s pandemic-delayed Masters.
He had his fifth back surgery two months later and was still recovering from that on Feb. 23, 2021, when he crashed his SUV, going over a median on a suburban coastal road in Los Angeles and down the side of a hill.
Woods’ injuries from that crash were so severe that doctors considered right leg amputation before reassembling the limb by placing a rod in the tibia and using screws and pins to stabilize additional injuries in the ankle and foot.
“It’s been a tough, tough year … but here we are,” Woods said.