By Martin Dempster - The Scotsman
15-time major winner is heading to Augusta but doesn’t know if it will be as a competitor
Tiger
Woods is heading to Augusta National in a fortnight’s time - but the
five-time winner has still to decide if he will be making the journey to
tee up in the Masters.
The
50-year-old made his long-awaited return to golf after his latest back
surgery on Tuesday night as he played for his team, Jupiter Links Golf
Club, in the TGL final in Florida.
After the excitement of him being back swinging a club in a competitive
environment, albeit at an indoor event, it turned into a disappointing
night for Woods as Jupiter Links lost 9-2 to Los Angeles Golf Club after
just ten holes.
Tiger Woods pictured in action during the 2024 Masters at Augusta National | Warren Little/Getty Images
The
win meant that Los Angeles, represented by English duo Tommy Fleetwood
and Justin Rose as well as American Sahith Theegala, won the title for a
second time.
The
question that everyone wanted to be answered afterwards was whether or
not Woods will now be competing in the Masters, having made his last
outing in a ‘real’ tournament in The Open at Royal Troon in 2024.
‘I’m going to be there either way’
“As
I said, I’ve been trying,” he told reporters. “Just this body is - it
doesn’t recover like it did when it was 24, 25. It doesn’t mean I’m not
trying. I’ve been trying for a while.
“I’ve had a couple bad injuries here over the past years that I’ve had
to fight through and it’s taken some time. But I keep trying. I want to
play. I love the tournament. I’ve loved being there since I was 19 years
old. It’s meant a lot to me and my family over the years.
“I’m
going to be there either way with The Loop (his new nine-hole design at
The Patch, which is Augusta’s municipal course) that's going up there,
as well as the Champions Dinner.”
The
15-time major winner was asked when he thought he would make a decision
about an event that will see Rory McIlroy defend the title after he
joined Woods and four others by becoming a career grand slam winner 12
months ago.
“I
don’t know, we’ll see how it goes,” he said. “I’ll be practicing,
playing at home this week and keep trying to make progress.”
Woods
had disc replacement surgery in October, which was believed to be the
seventh time his back had undergone the surgeon’s knife.
He
turned up the SoFi Centre in Palm Beach Gardens on Tuesday afternoon to
get himself warmed up for the match against Los Angeles as Jupiter
Links attempted to hit back after losing last week’s opener in the
two-match final.
‘Feels fine physically’
“Feels
fine physically,” insisted Woods afterwards. “It was just interesting
the shots because usually you have more of a rhythm when you're actually
playing a normal round of golf, hitting shots. Here it feels like I'm
getting iced a bit at times.
“It's
just a different rhythm. It's like when you play Ryder Cup or
Presidents Cups and you play in foursomes. Some matches you just don't
hit a putt for like 10-11 holes and all of a sudden you've got to make a
three-footer. That's kind of what it feels like here.
“I
had a couple drives I had to hit and then a couple putts. For me, it
was different because I haven't really done this. I've been watching
these guys do it. They make it look easy. I haven't done it in a while.
It was a lot of fun, though, to be a part of it.”
He
clocked 175mph with a couple of his ball speeds and insisted: “Yeah,
there's definitely more (in the tank). I've never really struggled with
ball speed. Ball direction is a different story. I've hit it left and
right most of my life, hence my last name is Woods (laughing).
“Hey,
I've always had speed. That's always been something that I've
fortunately been gifted with. Even as I've gotten older and with the
body not quite what it used to be, I can still get it up there.
“It's
just that now everyone is living at that speed and higher. We were
joking the other day that in '97 I averaged 296. That's like nothing
now. I was No. 2 in driving distance behind [John] Daly. Guys are
hitting that with 3 woods.”
