“If everything comes together, I think I can get one more,” said Tiger Woods ahead of the 2024 Masters, as he insisted hopes of a sixth Green Jacket remain intact.
The problem is that “everything” covers far more than just his own game.
“I ache every day,” was another of his admissions that grabbed attention. Countless surgeries have left the 48-year-old nursing a fused back and right ankle, as well as a bad knee, that make simply walking 72 holes a mission in itself.
Few venues are more challenging to navigate from that standpoint than Augusta National.
“It's certainly one of the hillier walks that we have on tour,” Woods added. “You just don't realise it. And where the clubhouse is perched to the bottom of 12 green, we're playing on a hillside, and we're just meandering back and forth across that hillside.
“So, yeah, it is a long walk.”
With news that the start of the Masters has been delayed by thunderstorms, that “long walk” could be about to feel a whole lot longer for the five-time Masters champion.
Thursday’s Augusta tee times have been pushed back by 2hrs 30mins, meaning Woods isn't out until 3.54pm local time on Thursday and is going to have to play more than 18 holes on either Friday or Saturday or both as the field attempts to catch up.
“I prefer it warm and humid and hot,” Woods continued. “And I know we're going to get some thunderstorms. So at least it will be hot. It won't be like last year.”
Adverse weather impacted the first men’s Major of 2023, which resulted in Woods withdrawing before completing his third round.
But while the temperature isn’t set to reach the same depths, an already improbable assignment just became a great deal harder, even for a golfer as odds-defying as Woods.
The 15-time Major champion could well have to cram the best part of 72 holes in over three days and battle some of the elements to boot.
He is among day one's afternoon wave, too, meaning he faces the prospect of a rapid turnaround between his first and second 18, something he has found difficult since he returned to the game following his 2021 car crash.
So, while those in the know have talked up the way he is playing, “everything” has not come together on this occasion, leaving his already slim chances of slipping on another Green Jacket potentially in tatters before he's even struck a ball.
