Tiger Woods seems set to make his twenty sixth begin on the Masters subsequent week, however the 15-time main winner stays hampered by extreme leg accidents from a 2021 automobile crash.
Woods, whose aircraft was tracked to Augusta every week in the past, is listed to talk with reporters at Augusta Nationwide on Tuesday and stays amongst these within the event area on the occasion web site somewhat than amongst non-playing champions.
However the 48-year-old US celebrity, whose 82 PGA Tour wins shares the all-time report with Sam Snead, is combating accidents, in accordance with his long-time pal Notah Begay.
“He’s making an attempt to formulate a method and method that he can work with given the constraints that he’s introduced with, and he has obtained some constraints,” Begay instructed reporters on Wednesday.
“He has obtained zero mobility in that left ankle and actually has low-back challenges now, which he knew he was going to have.”
Woods received the 2019 Masters for his first main title since 2008, however has struggled since making his comeback from the 2021 auto accident on the 2022 Masters, ending forty seventh when he struggled simply to stroll all 72 holes on the hilly structure.
Final yr, Woods matched a Masters report by making a twenty third consecutive lower, pulling stage with Gary Participant and Fred {Couples}, however later withdrew because of plantar fasciitis and underwent ankle surgical procedure final April.
The five-time Masters champion reportedly performed Augusta Nationwide final weekend with pal Justin Thomas and Augusta Nationwide chairman Fred Ridley.
To this point this season, the one PGA occasion Woods has performed was at Riviera in February, when he withdrew after one spherical because of sickness.
Can he stroll 72 holes?
The principle wrestle for Woods is strolling a full 4 rounds, Begay stated.
“He has been looking for a technique to get better,” Begay stated. “He can play the golf. We at all times knew the query was going to be, ‘Can he stroll the 72?’ That’s nonetheless up within the air.
“Can he get better from one spherical to the following? That’s the largest query. I actually don’t know and he’s not going to know both till he will get on the market and figures out whether or not the way in which he has ready for this yr’s Masters goes to work for him.”
Woods has delivered among the most spectacular shotmaking ever seen at Augusta Nationwide, creating roars that reverberated by the pines alongside the famed course.
He captured his first main title on the Masters in 1997, received once more in 2001 to finish a “Tiger Slam” of 4 main wins in a row, then joined Jack Nicklaus and Nick Faldo as the one back-to-back Masters winners with a 2002 triumph earlier than taking the 2005 title.
In 2019, Woods accomplished a fairytale comeback by taking the Masters, having recovered from 4 again operations that left him questioning if he may have a traditional life because of nagging ache, a lot much less play golf once more.
After his 2021 automobile crash, by which he suffered a shattered ankle and a number of fractures in his proper leg, Woods stated he was grateful to nonetheless have the leg however battled again for greater than a yr to make a comeback on the 2022 Masters.
Since then, nonetheless, Woods has performed in solely three majors, withdrawing ultimately yr’s Masters and the 2022 PGA Championship and lacking the lower on the 2022 British Open.