Tiger eyes confidence of fast start at Masters
Scott Van Pelt, Andy North and Tom Rinaldi discuss Tiger Woods practice in preparation for the Masters and give an update on the weather for the tournament. (3:41)
AUGUSTA, Ga. — Tiger Woods was surprised to learn Tuesday that he is the last player to win the Masters despite being outside of the top 10 after the first round at Augusta National.
It is telling that every winner of the year’s first major has been no worse than 10th since Woods’ fourth Masters victory in 2005. And it should have more meaning to Woods, who has been plagued by slow starts over the past two years since returning from spinal fusion surgery.
Woods begins play in his 22nd Masters on Thursday at Augusta National, where he has broken 70 just once in an opening round and been under par just four times after day one since 2005.
Golf allows players to be competitive longer than any other sport. But just how long can Tiger 2.0 last? He says he’s not going anywhere anytime soon.
Tiger Woods will begin his 22nd Masters on Thursday at 11:04 a.m. ET and will play alongside China’s Haotong Li and Spain’s Jon Rahm for the first two rounds at Augusta National.
“That’s a very interesting stat,” Woods said. “I know that most of the winners have come from the final group, but I didn’t know that one after the first day. It’s interesting because I think this is one of the courses you can make up a lot of ground. You can get on one of these hot rounds and make up some shots, like I did in ’05 against Chris (DiMarco). I got on a nice little run, made seven (birdies) in a row (in the third round) and next thing you know, I’m in the lead. I think that’s where this golf course allows you to do that, but you get going the other way pretty quickly, too.
“I just think if you get off to a quick start here, a solid start, it gives us a lot of confidence going forward.”
Woods has not done that here or mostly anywhere of late. In 22 stroke-play tournaments starting in January 2018, Woods has shot in the 60s just four times, and none have been this year. He shot a first-round 65 last September on his way to his 80th PGA Tour victory at the Tour Championship.
That win, and some of the other progress Woods has made, gives him confidence that he can win a major title after 11 years since capturing his 14th at the 2008 U.S. Open.
“I feel like I can win. I’ve proven that I can do it and I put myself there with a chance to win the last two major championships of the year last year,” Woods said, referring to a sixth-place tie at The Open and a runner-up finish at the PGA Championship. “I was right there and just needed to have a couple more things to go my way and not throw away a couple shots here and there, which I was able to do at East Lake.
“I just feel like that I’ve improved a lot over the past 12, 14 months, but I’ve more than anything just proven to myself that I can play at this level again. I’ve worked my way back into one of the players that can win events.”
Not hurting matters is the fact that Woods visited Augusta National on April 3 for practice and shot 65 despite a three-putt bogey on the first hole. Although the course typically plays considerably different a week prior to the Masters — and has been soaked with rain the last two days — shooting a good score helped confirm a few things.
“It doesn’t really matter, but it is something that I feel it’s I know that I can play this golf course. I’ve had some success here,” Woods said. “I just wanted to do a quick scouting trip and get a feel for how this golf course is going to be playing, especially see No. 5 (the lengthening of the hole), see the changes to the green, well the entire hole, and see what they did to 18, as well, and was able to do that. I played well on top of that.”
This will be Woods’ sixth start of 2019, after a tie for 20th at the Farmers Insurance Open, a tie for 15th at the Genesis Open, a tie for 10th at the WGC-Mexico Championship, a tie for 30th at the Players Championship and a tie for fifth at his last event, the WGC-Dell Technologies Match Play Championship, where he lost in the quarterfinals.
Woods will be grouped the first two rounds with China’s Haotong Li and Spain’s Jon Rahm. They begin play at 11:04 a.m. on Thursday.