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The extended reign as the 2019 Masters champion will officially come to a conclusion today for Tiger Woods.
All that is left to do is play the final round of the 84th edition of the Masters and then Woods will leave Magnolia Lane without the green jacket. Any chance Woods had to successfully defend his title and extend his possession of the game’s most coveted garment, which came to just over 19 months due to the global COVID-19 pandemic, came to an end on a long Saturday that started at 3:30 am ET.
On move-in day, Woods began having trouble moving in the third round when his troubled back, which has been home to five procedures, most recently a spinal fusion operation, began to seize him. Needing to put red numbers on the famous white scoreboards, Woods instead made just three on the 26 holes he played in the weather-delayed tournament.
Photos: Tiger’s third round | Classification table
Woods started playing from the second cut just off 11th fairway and completed his second round, which started at 7:30 am, 9:30 am and signed for a 71. Along with his 68th start, he had 5 low and only four shots off the lead.
But after a break of just over an hour, Woods could do nothing in the third round and struggled to a par 72 that left him 11 shots behind when he left the club.
While he looked more agile and fit as he completed round two under cloudy skies and in hot temperatures, Woods looked stiff and struggling as he started late in the top nine of his third round. He appeared to be sore as he scooped balls out of holes and picked up tees after hitting his tee shots. He winced at times. Towards the end of the round, however, Woods was looking a little better.
“These are long days,” said Woods, who won his fifth green jacket and his 15th major championship last year at Augusta National. “I had my day off yesterday, which was nice. Today has not been the case. We have been doing it for quite some time. It’s just part of the deal. If you have long days like this, I’m going to get a little sore, and I definitely am.
“I can walk all day. The hard part is bending and twisting. However, I think that’s part of the game, so it’s always been the challenge with my back problems and I suppose it will always be. “
As for his game, Woods was still confused by the greens, which have been running much slower this November Masters due to the time of year and the recent storms that soaked the course. The club’s SubAir system can work wonders, but it can’t totally defeat Mother Nature.
“The putts are not breaking quite yet,” Woods said. “Some of the downhill putts are starting to move a little bit, but the uphill putts aren’t. We usually say that everything breaks into Rae’s Creek, and the greens can get a bit grainy. That has definitely been the case this week, just because they have been a bit longer. But today they started running a little more, they started playing a little more break. A couple of putts today, both Billy (Horschel) and Rickie (Fowler) and myself, fooled us all with just one touch. “
After 19 months, Woods’ title defense has 18 holes left. Woods gave a huge boost to what will likely be an emotional outing today. On the Tuesday night drive to the Champions Dinner, Woods had to stop his car because he was overwhelmed with excitement. He called his girlfriend, Erica Herman, before starting the car to finish the trip to Augusta National Golf Club.
There, too, he was outclassed against the fraternity of Masters champions.
“I’ve never seen Tiger like that,” said six-time Masters champion Jack Nicklaus. “But it was good. It’s always good. You always leave with the feeling of something you haven’t had before.”
Three-time Masters champion Gary Player, who along with Nicklaus opened the Masters with ceremonial kickoffs Thursday morning, said Woods was notable in his dinner speech.
“He said he was on his way to the golf course and that he had to stop because he had tears in his eyes and he stopped for a moment on the road because a lot of the memories were running through his mind very quickly,” Player said. . “How I interpreted what he said, and having won the tournament again with his children there.”
Woods said he hasn’t thought about how emotional Sunday will be.
“Tuesday was a long and difficult day for me, but I still haven’t thought about tomorrow,” he said. “I was focused on trying to get into contention for tomorrow. I just found out that the departure times will be a little early tomorrow and there will be two tees out, so I didn’t know who that group was going to be.
“I don’t know exactly what position I am in. I think we are now 20th or 25th. Certainly I will be part of the first part of the division and I will follow it tomorrow.
“We’ll see how exciting it will be after the round tomorrow.”
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