Augusta National got the best of Tiger Woods on Saturday. After making his record 24th straight cut, the five-time green jacket winner posted his worst score in 99 career rounds at the Masters.
Tiger began the sunny, theoretically inviting day at +1 — seven strokes back of the lead. The 15-time major champion relied on course knowledge, solid driving, and a nifty short game to navigate the gusts on Thursday and Friday.
Tiger's second round 72 — after completing the final five holes of his first round early in the morning — was among the most impressive feats of the day, by any player in the 89-person field.
On Saturday, his physical limitations reared their head. Tiger, who played with Tyrrell Hatton, was sitting even par through five after a vintage birdie on No. 5.
That's when his round snowballed.
Tiger Woods makes a lengthy birdie putt on No. 5. #themasters pic.twitter.com/bm3zw6cllK
— The Masters (@TheMasters) April 13, 2024
A bogey on the par 4 6th was compounded by haywire hitting, resulting in ugly doubles on Nos. 7 and 8. It is worth noting that Tiger had never bogeyed the par 5 8th — and nobody else has this week.
Tiger's front-nine score of 42 was his highest ever in 26 starts at the Masters (ironically, he shot a 40 on the front-nine in 1997 — and still won the tournament by 12 strokes).
His swing looked increasingly strained around the turn, as the grimaces and one-handed follow-throughs picked up. He winced his way around Amen Corner.
Outside of an easygoing birdie on the par 5 13th and the occasional late flourish, Tiger didn't find a second wind — although he appeared to be in less pain coming home. He bogeyed the final four holes, and five of the last six overall.
Tiger (+11) finished with eight bogeys, two double-bogeys, and two birdies. It was the fifth round of 80+ in his PGA Tour career.
“The fact is I was not hitting it very good or putting well,” Woods said. “I didn’t have a very good warmup session, and I kept it going all day today. Just hit the ball in all the places that I know I shouldn’t hit it. And I missed a lot of putts. Easy, makable putts. I missed a lot of them.”
Tiger hit the Augusta National clubhouse tied for 52nd. He'll be scheduled for one of the earliest tee times on Sunday morning. Charmingly, he'll reportedly be paired with the lone amateur in the field to make the cut, 22-year-old Neal Shipley.
“My team will get me ready,” Tiger said about preparing for the final round. “It will be a long night and a long warmup session. But we'll be ready.”
Tiger hasn't completed a PGA Tour event since undergoing ankle fusion surgery a few weeks after withdrawing from the 2023 Masters. He WD'd in the second round of his lone start of 2024: at the Genesis Invitational at Riviera, due to illness.
“The body's just—the things that just flare up,” he said at his pre-Masters press conference on Tuesday. Again, the training that we have to do at home, it changes from day-to-day basis. Some days I just feel really good, and other days, not so much.”
Tiger has completed 72 holes of a PGA Tour event three times since 2021. If he makes it through the hilly walk of Augusta one more time, he'll become the 21st player to record 100 official rounds at the Masters.
Ahead of the Masters, Tiger said he hopes major championship season “kicks in” his plan to play once per month this year. The 2024 PGA Championship at Valhalla begins on May 16.
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