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Tiger Woods says, for now anyway, he is planning to play this week within the Masters, a bit of greater than a yr after almost dropping a leg in a automotive crash. .
The five-time champion at Augusta Nationwide who was inducted into the Golf Hall of Fame final month made the announcement Tuesday morning. He’ll play 9 extra apply holes on Wednesday earlier than making a ultimate choice, however will likely be doing so with the intention of enjoying Thursday.
“As of proper now,” Woods said, “I really feel like I’ll play.”
Woods was requested if he believes he can win this week. “I do,” he mentioned.
“I can hit it simply effective,” Woods added. “I haven’t got any qualms about what I can do bodily from a golf standpoint. It is now, strolling’s the exhausting half. This isn’t a simple stroll to start with. Now given the situation that my leg is in, it will get a bit of tougher. And 72 holes is an extended street. It is going to be a troublesome problem and a problem that I am up for.”
There had been loads of indicators in latest days that Woods was on the cusp of deciding it was time to play once more. He got here to Augusta Nationwide for a apply spherical final week, then returned Sunday – saying he’d be “a game-time choice” – and Monday for extra. On Tuesday morning, with unhealthy climate within the forecast, he spent loads of time within the apply areas.
“It is nice to be again,” Woods mentioned.
Woods performed in December on the PNC Problem, a 36-hole scramble on a flat Florida course the place he and his son Charlie completed second to John Daly and his son. Woods was allowed to make use of a cart in that occasion, and when these rounds have been over he flatly dismissed any notion that his recreation was tour-ready once more.
“I can not compete in opposition to these guys proper now, no,” Woods mentioned on Dec. 19. “It is going to take a whole lot of work to get to the place I really feel like I can compete at these guys and be at a excessive degree.”
About 3-1/2 months later, Woods apparently feels in a different way. If he performs, he’ll be within the Masters for the twenty fourth time; he is completed within the prime 5 12 occasions in his earlier 23 appearances.
Thursday’s opening spherical would mark the primary time Woods competes in opposition to the world’s greatest gamers since Nov. 15, 2020, which was the ultimate spherical of that yr’s pandemic-delayed Masters.
He had his fifth again surgical procedure two months later and was nonetheless recovering from that on Feb. 23, 2021 when he crashed his SUV over a median on a suburban coastal street in Los Angeles and down the aspect of a hill.
Police mentioned Woods was rushing as quick as 87 miles per hour in an space identified for car accidents when he crashed. Woods injured his proper leg and it required a prolonged surgical procedure to stabilize shattered tibia and fibula bones within the leg.
Native police decided the reason for the trigger however declined to publicly share particulars, citing privateness issues.
Woods’ accidents from that crash have been so extreme that docs thought-about proper leg amputation, earlier than reassembling the limb by inserting a rod within the tibia and utilizing screws and pins to stabilize further accidents within the ankle and foot.
“It has been a troublesome, powerful yr … however right here we’re,” Woods mentioned.
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