Tiger comeback? Woods sparks US Masters return rumours
Tiger Woods has sparked rumours of a stunning US Masters comeback next week after sneaking into Augusta for practice with his son Charlie.
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THEY are doing double shifts down at the rumour mill after Tiger Woods arrived in Augusta on Tuesday.
Barely a year after the 85mph car crash that again twisted the career kaleidoscope and nearly cost him his right leg, Woods may yet be back at the Masters for the 25th anniversary of the first of his 15 major titles.
He has until Friday to turn hedged bets into a golden ticket, but he was expected to practise at Augusta National before the year’s first major in eight days’ time.
The 46-year-old is doing all he can to make previous comebacks look like trifling affairs after 17 months out of competitive golf.
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When rumours of him playing at the Masters first surfaced, it sounded like hokum. Slowly, the fanciful has waded towards the increasingly realistic.
Woods has shown he can still play shots, at the “hit and giggle” PNC Championship with his son, Charlie, in December, but his last meaningful event was the 2020 Masters.
The problem is playing four competitive rounds on an undulating course without a buggy. In February he told CBS: “I don’t want to come out here and just play. I need to feel I can beat these guys.”
In his locker is the fact he has played through pain for decades and produced some remarkable feats along the way. In 2008 he won the US Open despite suffering two stress fractures in his left tibia and a torn ACL in his knee. His last major triumph, the Masters in 2019, came after four back surgeries. His great friend Notah Begay said in the aftermath: “I think there is something in his DNA that is different to everyone else.”
Speculation has been mounting in recent weeks that Woods could underscore that assessment. He is listed in the Masters field as a past champion and has not yet informed the Augusta National that he is not playing. That is very different from saying he is a definite starter, but remaining on the list suggests he has been trying as hard as possible to get there.
“Too early” to make a call, said one person close to Team Tiger this month.
In recent days, a popular podcast cited “multiple people” who had seen Woods playing at Medalist, the club near his Florida home. A brief amateur clip of him doing so emerged online. Then it was deleted.
Woods suffered a badly broken right leg and a shattered ankle in last year’s crash when he rolled his Genesis SUV in Los Angeles.
He has already said he will be at Augusta National for Tuesday’s Champions’ Dinner, but will he play two days later? In 2017, he waited until the Friday before the Masters to concede defeat.
A similar message may still be imminent, but with fans tracking his private jet on social media it shows the frenzy he will cause if he does play.
🚨#BREAKING🚨
— Eureka Earth® (@EurekaEarthPlus) March 29, 2022
517TW Went #WheelsUp at 1747#TigerWoods#TheMasters
(📸 ©29MAR2022 DavidDobbins/EurekaEarth)#EurekaEarth#NotDrone#DiscoverThePresentpic.twitter.com/mevjAAorhR
What is clear is that he is closer to a comeback than many thought, and the 150th Open at St Andrews in July will surely be on the radar too.
Originally published as Tiger comeback? Woods sparks US Masters return rumours
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