AUGUSTA, Ga. — One might better tune to the Weather Channel instead of the Golf Channel to evaluate Tiger Woods’ chances in this week’s Masters golf tournament.
During his press conference, held in its traditional 11 a.m. Tuesday time slot of Masters week, Woods listened as the moderator praised his accomplishment last year of making the 36-hole cut, just 14 months after a “horrific” car accident that nearly ended the golfer’s career.
“Then,” Woods responded, “it got cold.” As he limped around on his surgically repaired right leg, he carded a pair of 78s on the weekend and finished in 47th place.
When you’re walking around the hilly grounds of Augusta National with a damaged limb that has “some hardware in there,” uncontrollable elements such as weather can be a factor.
The forecast, at least on that front, is not promising.
Temperatures on Wednesday and Thursday could reach the upper 80s, which is warm, even for these parts, in early April and would ease Woods’ trek around the 7,545-yard track.
Beyond that, the horizon isn’t so inviting. There is a 40-percent-or-better chance of rain during all four tournament days, peaking at 80 percent Saturday, with an expected high of 52 degrees.
“Oh, yeah,” Woods said of the forecast, “I’ve seen it.”
There seem to be more questions about Woods’ ability to walk 72 holes — provided that he makes the cut — than his ability to strike the ball.
“He looks good,” said Rory McIlroy, who played a practice round with Woods on Monday. “If he didn’t have to walk up these hills and have all of that, I’d say he’d be one of the favorites.”
Favored or not, Woods is always the center of attention Masters week. Defending champion Scottie Scheffler, McIlroy and Jon Rahm are the clear-cut top three players…
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