– Tiger, what’s your feeling about what you’re capable of doing this week?
– If everything goes well, I think I can get one more. Do I need to elaborate more on the matter or are we good like this?
And Woods was smiling after answering this inevitable question today in a clear and concise way, with that touch of cheeky arrogance that has always characterized the greatest.
The question is: Does he really believe in the possibility of winning the Masters for the sixth time, which would equal Jack Nicklaus’s record of victories at Augusta National? After attending his press conference, it must be agreed that yes, he still holds that hope. He is also very aware of his limitations, but he certainly continues to think that probably nowhere like in the colossus of Georgia will he get a better chance to add a new Major to his record.
Tiger also doesn’t want to deceive anyone and has once again acknowledged that his preparation is not what it used to be. “My practice sessions are certainly not what they used to be. I used to live on the field or stuck to the short game practice area and be out there all day. That’s no longer the case,” he explains. But he makes a virtue out of necessity: “So I have to focus more as soon as I get the chance to go out and practice and really strive and make every shot count.”
He has also made it very clear that his problems, the pains, no longer affect the battered ankle as much as other parts of his body that now have to endure more efforts and suffer more from the adaptation he has had to make with his game, such as the knee, the back, the neck… And, of course, he confirmed that on a course like the Augusta National, where you don’t hit a shot on a more or less flat surface off the tee, everything is a little more complicated. “Any shot that is not from the tee here is a little challenge for me,” he explained smiling.
Beyond the victory, putting more feet on the ground, there is another beastly record that is also at stake, as Tiger could chain 24 consecutive cuts at Augusta National, breaking the tie at 23 he currently holds with Gary Player and Frede Couples. In other words, he hasn’t missed a cut since he did as an amateur in 1996 (he didn’t play the editions of 2014, 2016, 2017 and 2021). Regarding this possibility, the Cypress native believes it has to do with “consistency, longevity and understanding of how to play on this golf course. That’s one of the reasons why you see players between 50 and 60 years old making cuts here, or they are older players. Of course, then you have to go out and execute it, but there is a lot of knowledge needed to understand how to play it. Of course, every tee has been changed since the first time I played. Every green has been changed. But the general setup of how they roll and how they move and the angles you take, that hasn’t changed.”
Tiger said last November that his idea was to play a tournament a month in 2024, something that he has not been able to do so far due to his physical limitations. But he does not rule out being able to do it from now on, which leads to think that his plan is to play the four Majors: “Well, I was not ready to play. My body was not prepared. My game was not ready. I thought that playing once a month would be a really nice pace, but it has not worked out that way. However, now we have major championships every month from here until July, so hopefully I can play once a month.”
Finally, Tiger has acknowledged that as soon as the week of the Masters is over, he will sit down more seriously with the CEO of the PGA of America, Seth Waugh, to confirm or not his captaincy for the 2025 Ryder Cup at Bethpage, although it gives the impression that, indeed, he will lead the American team.
