Limping Tiger Woods in ‘sad’ scenes as ‘biggest fear’ realised at The Masters

Tiger Woods is playing through serious pain at The Masters and the golf world couldn’t bear to watch grim scenes that could spell the end.

From the moment he first saw the long-term forecast, Tiger Woods had to be dreading Saturday at the Masters.

He had to be thinking that a test of willpower and pain tolerance would confront him at Augusta National, presenting a far more forbidding challenge than the extra yardage added to the 13th hole.

His longtime caddie and counsellor Joe LaCava saw the moment of truth coming from a mile away, the NY Post reports.

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Team Tiger doesn’t often deal in the currency of negative hypotheticals, but with his right leg badly damaged from his single-car wreck in 2021, the 47-year-old Woods has no choice but to acknowledge the storms around him, and to concede that every Masters appearance could be his last. Including this one.

When LaCava spoke with Post before the tournament, the caddie called Woods’ injury “devastating” and incompatible with the weather moving in.

“My biggest fear going in … is we get a lot of rain and thunderstorms and we get the stop and start, or we get extra holes one day,” LaCava said.

“I can’t imagine him going 27-plus holes (in one day) around here. … I’m hoping first and foremost that doesn’t happen.”

Tiger Woods is playing through a world of pain. (Photo by Andrew Redington/Getty Images)

But now it’s going to happen now. Woods is scheduled to play 29 holes on Sunday in an experience that should be positively brutal, even more so than the 14 holes Woods endured on in the chilled, windswept rain.

Woods didn’t play those 14 holes. He survived them, barely, especially the seven that he was forced to take on in the third round after his close friend, Justin Thomas, faltered late to help Woods make the cut at 3-over par.

It means Woods made his 23rd consecutive Masters cut to match the record held by Gary Player and Fred Couples.

But the sight of Woods limping around the course in obvious pain made for seriously grim viewing, and the inclement weather means he will likely have to hobble around for 27 holes in one day.

🚨🐅 A rough scene for 5x Masters Champion Tiger Woods. This after making his 23rd consecutive cut. #TheMasters 

pic.twitter.com/XmNyIyajny

— NUCLR GOLF (@NUCLRGOLF) April 8, 2023

I think it's totally reasonable to admire the grind and pain Tiger is willing to put himself through at the point and also feel a little sad as you watch it. Would rather see him give Liverpool a another shot than limp around here for 29 more holes in the rain. https://t.co/gyP8SxkzhT

— Kevin Van Valkenburg (@KVanValkenburg) April 8, 2023

Tiger isn’t the type to throw in the towel. But this is rough watching him limp around in the rain hitting bad shots.

— Pat Forde (@ByPatForde) April 8, 2023

Woods went out there after lunch to get eaten alive by the beast Augusta National had become.

But first, when the suspended second round resumed at 8am on Saturday, Woods needed mere seconds to validate what LaCava and Rory McIlroy had said about the state of his game.

The caddie and the competitor both said that Woods’ power and precision were good enough to contend for a sixth green jacket if only he could ride a cart.

With no cart in sight, Woods stood on the 12th tee in a cut-off vest over long sleeves and lashed a beautiful tee shot right over the flagstick to four feet.

Woods takes forever in the morning to loosen up his surgically altered body, and yet he conquered one of the most daunting shots in major championship golf with his very first swing.

Tiger Woods’ leg is giving him grief. Photo: Andrew Redington/Getty Images/AFP.

And then he pulled his birdie putt in an amateurish way, signalling the struggles to come.

Woods managed to advance to Round 3 despite his bogey-bogey finish and, though he equalled that Masters record, maybe that wasn’t what his leg would’ve preferred.

This was old-school NFL winter weather, not Masters weather in Augusta.

The sideways rain made sure of that. Woods was fighting those conditions as valiantly as he could, while his leg was fighting the famously hilly course and — even when dry and firm — one of the most difficult walks in golf. It was a lost tee-to-green cause.

Wearing a ski cap over his hat as he started on the back nine, Woods bogeyed two of the first five holes before everything unravelled around him.

His third shot on the par-5 15th landed on the green and spun back into the pond en route to a double bogey.

On the 16th, where he has made a lot of magic, Woods looked on in disgust when his ball made a beeline for the drink again. His second straight double bogey left him at 9-over, dead last among the 54 players who made the cut.

As he leaned over to retrieve his ball, Woods paused in apparent pain, and slowly reached into the 16th cup. He headed to the 17th tee with the hobble of an 85-year-old man.

Jon Rahm (left) is chasing down Brooks Koepka (right). (Photo by Patrick Smith/Getty Images)

“I’m very lucky to have this leg,” Woods said before the tournament.

“It’s mine. Yes, it had been altered and there’s some hardware in there, but it’s still mine. It’s been tough and will always be tough.”

“I don’t know how many more I have in me.”

Before Tiger Woods starts counting, he will be tested Sunday as never before. He will be asked to survive a 29-hole marathon that he never wanted to sign up for.

Play was once again suspended midway through the third round. Brooks Koepka moved to 13-under to open up a four-shot lead over Jon Rahm.

Jason Day is the best of the Australians, tied for eighth at 4-under after seven holes of hid third round.

Masters leaderboard (midway through third round)

Brooks Koepka -13

Jon Rahm -9

Sam Bennett -6

Viktor Hovland - 05

Patrick Cantlay -5

Colin Morikawa -5

Matt Fitzpatrick -5

Australians

Jason Day -4

Cameron Smith -1

Adam Scott -1

This article originally appeared in the NY Post and was reproduced with permission.