AUGUSTA, GEORGIA | It has been 29 years since Tiger Woods showed up to play his first Masters, a skinny teenager with the keys to golf’s kingdom tucked into his future.
Two years later, Woods changed golf and widened society’s eyes with his record-setting victory in the 1997 Masters, propelling him on a path never traveled before.
Here Woods is again, the magic of winning his fifth green jacket lingering five years down the road, on the edge of another Masters start with a body battered by time and injuries to the point that the questions he inspires are framed by uncertainty, an odd juxtaposition for a player whose career has been defined by his certainty on the golf course.
The inquiries seem to start with “Can he…?” From there, they go to “Will he?”
There are no guarantees with Woods, the golfer, anymore. His will can take him only so far. But because it’s Woods and because his will is among the strongest strands in his DNA and because this is Augusta, the anticipation is built around possibilities rather than impossibilities.
“If everything comes together, I think I can get one more. Do I need to describe that any more than that, or are we good?” Woods answered Tuesday when asked about his expectations this week.
Bringing everything together means something different for Woods than it does for other players this week. He’s 48 years old now and, whether it was the line of questioning during his pre-tournament media session or the perspective of a player who knows that his prime has passed, he sounded more contemplative than in the past.
For someone who mastered the skill of narrowing his focus, Woods sounds as if he’s more interested in looking around these days. He embraces the rituals and traditions of this place and this week. Playing a few holes with Fred Couples and Justin Thomas on Tuesday is a part of what Woods does here.
“Can he win here? You know what, yeah. I just watched him play nine holes, and nine holes is only nine holes on a Tuesday, but he never mis-hits a shot.” – Fred Couples
He sees Thomas often at home in south Florida, but Woods and Couples stay connected by text until a morning like Tuesday comes along.
“Can he win here? You know what, yeah. I just watched him play nine holes, and nine holes is only nine holes on a Tuesday, but he never mis-hits a shot,” Couples said.
Woods and Couples, along with Gary Player, share the Masters record for making 23 consecutive cuts. Woods can add one more record to his collection this week with a good start.
“The idea of making a cut, I think he would laugh at that because he’s not here to – that’s a huge record, but he’s here to win. He’s here to play really, really hard,” Couples said.
How hard Woods can go is the question hanging over him as he chases a 16th major championship victory. In December, Woods optimistically suggested that he hoped to play one tournament a month starting in February.
He didn’t make it two rounds at the Genesis Invitational before withdrawing (due to illness rather than injury), and he surprised many when he did not play the Players Championship last month, raising questions about his physical condition.
Woods had a spinal fusion in 2017, he is three years removed from a life-threatening auto accident that badly damaged his right leg and it’s been almost a year since he had his right ankle fused. In Woods’ case, every day feels different.
“Some days I just feel really good, and other days, not so much,” Woods said.
How much pain is he in?
“I hurt every day,” he said.
Asked another way, is it worse at Augusta with its hills?
“I ache. No, I ache every day.”
Couples said he doesn’t ask about Woods’ injuries but he can see the reality. Woods still walks with a slight limp, but the ankle pain that forced him to withdraw after two rounds here last year, ending his PGA Tour season prematurely, is gone as a result of the fusion but it creates other physical issues.
“His ankle is bad. We know it,” Couples said. “But it looks like he’s here, he’s going to walk 72 holes, and if he keeps playing like that, he’ll be a factor.”
When Woods tees it up Thursday at 1:24 p.m. with Jason Day and Max Homa, the attention at Augusta National will shift directly to the first tee because of who he is, what he’s done and what still may be possible.
“This tournament has meant so much to me in my life and my family. I think I’ve been playing here for, what, 29 years now. It was the ultimate to be able to stay in the Crow’s Nest and to watch Byron [Nelson] and Sam [Snead] and Gene [Sarazen] tee off on the first hole.” – Tiger Woods
There was a time when Woods seemed capable of sucking all the air out of wherever he found himself. This week, it seems as though he’s breathing in the atmosphere. The people, the places, the sights, the sounds.
“This tournament has meant so much to me in my life and my family. I think I’ve been playing here for, what, 29 years now. It was the ultimate to be able to stay in the Crow’s Nest and to watch Byron [Nelson] and Sam [Snead] and Gene [Sarazen] tee off on the first hole,” Woods said.
“It’s been a part of my life to have won here as my first major as a pro. Hugging my dad, as you saw; then a full circle in 2019 to hug my son… It has meant a lot to my family. It’s meant a lot to me. I always want to keep playing in this.”
So much of the place is second nature to Woods. He knows the slopes and nuances – “the mental Rolodex,” he called it – and loves telling the stories about what happened in this spot and what happened in that spot like old soldiers sharing war stories.
Some of it is new. Greens have been redone. Tees have been moved back.
He’s older. His hair is thinning. Hitting shots off uneven lies is more difficult. He’s not even the longest hitter in his family any longer, noting 15-year-old son Charlie’s game.
What hasn’t changed is the feeling that comes with being at the Masters.
“I love golf. I do. I’ve always loved it. I played other sports growing up, but I just have always loved this sport. I love to compete,” Woods said. “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 competing, and I love that feeling when everything’s on fire with a chance to win, and you either you do or you don’t.”
Time has not changed that.