The Masters Tournament 2024 is coming up and Tiger Woods is ready for Augusta National. Last year’s experience was not really positive. Woods made the cut but struggled badly with his walking and withdrew in Round 3 when the tournament was suspended due to weather chaos and it was clear he would have to manage 29 holes on Sunday. At the official press conference ahead of this year’s tournament, the 48-year-old spoke about his fitness, his love of golf and his chances of winning.
The Masters Tournament 2024: “It’s special. To come down Magnolia Lane.”
THE MODERATOR: Good morning, everyone, and it is always a very special pleasure to welcome back to the media center a five-time Green Jacket winner, Mr. Tiger Woods.
Tiger, thank you for being with us today. Thanks for spending a few minutes. It’s been five years ago, hard to believe, that you won your fifth Green Jacket. You started Thursday, if you remember, that first round, outside the top 10, and went on to win in dramatic fashion. It is rare for a player outside the top 10 after Thursday to win. You did it in 2019. And the last 20 years it’s only been done one other time. And that was 2005, and that was you.
TIGER WOODS: Right. (Laughing).
THE MODERATOR: What a testament to your indomitable will over your career and your ability to make changes and adaptions to your practice, to your therapy, according to your body needs. And you executed that to perfection in 2019.
In 2021 there was that horrific accident that did serious damage to your leg. Could you share with us what adaptions to your healing, your rehab, your practice, your preparations that you have done that puts you in the best position to win your sixth Green Jacket.
TIGER WOODS: Well, I have an amazing medical staff that has really helped me get through this. Kolby has really been there through thick and thin to help me get into this position, and it’s daily adaption. We work at it each and every day, whether it’s trying to loosen me up or strengthen me or just recovery.
My practice sessions certainly aren’t what they used to be. I used to live on the range or live on a short game facility and just be out there all day. That’s no longer the case. So I just have to be more focused on when I do get a chance to go out there and practice and really grind out and make every shot count because I just really don’t have the ball count in me anymore.
So those adaptations have — hopefully I’ve made ’em for this week, I’ve got a chance to go out there on Sunday, take a look at the front nine. I played yesterday with Will on the back nine and came out today and played the front nine again with JT and Fred.
So this golf course is — when we came up here last weekend, it was in perfect shape. And it’s only gotten better, which is hard to believe, but it has. Hopefully we will get the weather to cooperate a little bit with us come Thursday.
Q. Given those physical challenges that you just described, why is it so important for you to keep playing in this tournament?
TIGER WOODS: Well, this tournament has meant so much to me in my life and my family. I think I’ve been playing here for, what, 29 years now. It was the ultimate to be able to stay in the Crow’s Nest and to watch Byron and Sam and Gene tee off on the first hole.
It’s been a part of my life to have won here as my first major as a pro. Hugging my dad, as you saw; then a full circle in 2019 to hug my son.
It has meant a lot to my family. It’s meant a lot to me. I always want to keep playing in this. And today I got a chance to play with Fred. And Fred’s been here a very long time, and we’re joking that he’s the oldest person ever to make a cut, and I think he can do it again this year.
So it’s great. I mean, that’s the neat thing about this golf course, and it’s the only major we play on the same site, the same venue, each and every year, and we get to tell stories and catch up with friends and for me get a chance to catch up with idols and the people that I looked up to my entire life.
Q. What would a record 24th straight cuts mean to you at this event considering all the major accomplishments you’ve had in your career?
TIGER WOODS: Yeah, I think it’s consistency, it’s longevity, and it’s an understanding of how to play this golf course. That’s one of the reasons why you see players that are in their 50s and 60s make cuts here, or it’s players in their late 40s have runs at winning the event, just the understanding of how to play it. Now, you still have to go out and execute it, but there’s a lot of knowledge that goes into understanding how to play it.
Q. You said last year your hope or your ambition was to try and play once a month. I realize you have some limitations. I’m just curious what specifically determines whether you play, what kept you from — since playing from Riv?
TIGER WOODS: Well, I wasn’t ready to play. My body wasn’t ready. My game wasn’t ready. And I thought that when I was at Hero, once a month would be a really nice rhythm. Hasn’t worked out that way. But now we have major championships every month from here through July. So now the once a month hopefully kicks in.
Q. With everything that you go through in your career right now, what makes you get up and go through all the preparation and all the things you have to go through to get ready to play top-level major golf?
TIGER WOODS: I love golf. I do. I’ve always loved it. I played other sports growing up, but I just have always loved this sport. I love to compete. And be able to have the love I have for the game and the love for competition be intertwined, I think that’s one of the reasons why I’ve had a successful career. I just love doing the work. I love logging the time in, and I love preparing. I love competing, and I love that feeling when everything’s on fire with a chance to win and you either you do or you don’t.
Q. When you think of everywhere you’ve been, everything you’ve achieved and the life you’ve had, what does the game of golf mean to you?
TIGER WOODS: Well, it’s been my life. I started playing at nine months; so I’ve done it pretty much my entire life. I played my first tournament when I was five. I have been playing tournament golf and playing golf around the world, not just here in the United States but around the world; it’s allowed me to see places that I don’t think that I would ever have gotten a chance to see, people that I’ve got a chance to meet all around the world. The generational connectivity with the sport, right.
So, as I said, with watching Sam and Gene and Byron tee off, two years later to watch them drinking my milkshakes, to play practice rounds with Fred and Raymond, Seve over the years, those are — and Jack and Arnold, those are memories that I’ll have for a lifetime. And it’s all because of this sport.
Q. Curious, can you describe the feeling you get when you return to this property and get to put on your Green Jacket?
TIGER WOODS: It’s special. To come down Magnolia Lane. The first time I got a chance to see it, I came in the middle of the night. We played a Stanford-Georgia Tech event. So I came in the middle of the night, and I didn’t get a chance to see Magnolia Lane. My first time, right? So got a chance to stay in the Crow’s Nest and the next day got a chance to see the golf course and what this amazing property is.
Just the fact that I’m able to put on a Green Jacket for the rest of my life is just absolutely amazing. I’m just an honorary member, but I love it.
Tiger Woods about Rory McIlroy: “He’ll get it done. It’s just a matter of when.”
Q. As someone who knows what it’s like to win a career Grand Slam or slams, as Rory McIlroy tries to achieve that feat again this year, can you explain how difficult it is to win a slam, and do you think he will do it at some stage?
TIGER WOODS: No question, he’ll do it at some point. He’s just — Rory’s too talented, too good. He’s going to be playing this event for a very long time. He’ll get it done. It’s just a matter of when.
But, yes, I think that Rory will be a great Masters champion one day, and it could be this week. You never know. I just think that just, again, the talent that he has, the way he plays game and the golf course fits his eye, it’s just a matter of time.
Q. You keep talking — we all know that your body’s taken a lot. Is there anything about the ankle which is like still that is unknown to us? I’m sure there’s a lot unknown, but something that you are trying to prepare to make sure that you continue to play the game that you love and have given so much to?
TIGER WOODS: Well, the ankle doesn’t hurt anymore. It’s fused. It’s not going anywhere. So that’s fine. It’s other parts of my body that now have to take the brunt of it. So, yeah, once he put the rods in there, it’s good to go. But, the back, the knee, other parts of the body have to take the load of it, and just the endurance capability of walking a long time and being on my feet for a long time.
Q. You’ve talked a lot about some memories already today, but what do you feel like you’re capable of doing this week? What do you believe that you can do this week?
TIGER WOODS: If everything comes together, I think I can get one more.
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