Woods additionally performed a follow spherical final week at Augusta Nationwide.
The 15-time main champion has a status for keen himself to victory beneath probably the most difficult circumstances, and primarily based on his swings on Sunday, he has regained a semblance of his golf prowess. However enjoying at Augusta Nationwide, a prolonged course identified for its unforgiving elevation adjustments, might be a frightening problem. On Wednesday, in a convention name with reporters, Curtis Unusual, the two-time U.S. Open champion who’s now a golf analyst for ESPN, known as Augusta Nationwide “the toughest stroll in golf.”
One other two-time winner of the U.S. Open, Andy North, who can be an ESPN commentator, stated he thought the British Open can be a probable place to return to competitors for Woods as a result of this yr’s venue — St. Andrews — is “flat and it’s a straightforward stroll.”
“Augusta is the final place you’ll have thought he may probably play,” North stated.
However Woods, who received his first Masters title 25 years in the past, in 1997, has fastidiously managed expectations — of the golf world and, maybe, of his personal — for a return to the tour at a number of factors because the crash.
In mid-February, earlier than the Genesis Invitational, Woods stated in a information convention that he had labored totally on chipping, placing and brief irons, however had not hung out “critically” on his lengthy recreation due to his proper leg.
“I’m nonetheless engaged on the strolling half,” Woods stated then. “My foot was somewhat tousled there a couple of yr in the past, so the strolling half is one thing that I’m nonetheless engaged on, engaged on energy and growth in that. It takes time. What’s irritating is it’s not at my timetable. I need to be at a sure place, however I’m not. I’ve simply bought to proceed working. I’m getting higher, sure. However as I stated, not on the pace and price that I would really like.”
