"I thought I had in my system" - Tiger Woods expresses disappointment on being unable to improve his score during 2024 Masters Round 4
It was another milestone. After a record 24 straight cuts, Tiger Woods, unlike last year, finished the weekend rounds at the 88th Masters and reached 100 competitive rounds at the Masters.
In 26 starts, Woods has made 24 cuts, but last year he withdrew and did not play the final two rounds. His sole missed cut at the Masters was in 1996.
On Sunday, Tiger Woods sported his own brand ‘Sunday Red’ for the first time at the Masters. He finished the weekend with 82-77, after a fine 73-72 on the first two days, when he was inside the Top-25.
There was a whopping 14-shot variance (145 for the first 36 and 159 for the second 36) between his scores in the first two rounds and the weekend. He finished 16-over 304 and at the wrong end of the leaderboard – 60th and last among the 60 who made the cut.
Woods’ 82 in the third was his worst score in a Major and the second worst as a professional.
Yet Woods, meeting the media including Sportskeeda, after the round said:
“It was a good week. It was a good week all around. I think that coming in here, not having played a full tournament in a very long time, it was a good fight on Thursday and Friday. Unfortunately, yesterday, it didn't quite turn out the way I wanted it to.
Today, the round that -- the way that Tom (Kim) is playing, I thought I had in my system. Unfortunately, I didn't produce it."
Tom Kim played a round of 6-under despite a closing bogey. The young Korean had eight birdies, four of them in a row from the ninth to the 12th and had two bogeys.
Tiger Woods may not want to remember this finish despite being happy to play all four rounds
Back to Woods, the presence of his son, Charlie Woods, in the practice area had him relaxed as he warmed up. He birdied the Par-5 second, but then mistakes started creeping in.
A poor approach led to a bogey on No. 3 and then there was a par on No. 4. Woods lost the ball from the tee on the long par-4 5th, and when he took the cart back to the tee box to hit his third shot, fans were reminded of the times he had withdrawn and left in a cart. This time he was around for a full 72 holes.
Woods had a triple on the Par-4 seventh, which was his fifth triple bogey or worse in his Masters career. The worst was the 10 on the par-3 12th during the final round in 2020.
The rest of the round was much better. He had eight straight pars and then a bogey on Par-5 15th. He had chances of birdies at various times but he left his putts short. Ultimately, he signed in for a 77.
Tiger Woods has said in recent times that he will be focussing on playing the Majors, and quite possibly once a month – as he mentioned at the Hero World Challenge in the Bahamas.
That means he could next be seen at the 2024 PGA Championship at Valhalla next month. Last year, he skipped the PGA Championship at Oak Hill due to injury.
On Augusta, he said to media including Sportskeeda:
“This is a golf course I knew going into, so I'm going to do my homework going forward at Pinehurst, Valhalla and (Royal) Troon, but that's kind of the game plan.
It's always nice coming back here because I know the golf course, I know how to play it. I can kind of simulate shots. Granted, it's never quite the same as getting out here and doing it. Same thing, I heard there's some changes at the next couple sites. So, got to get up there early and check them out.
On the biggest challenge this week, he stated:
“Well, I think that just the wind and what it was doing out here to the golf shots and the balls and putting, how difficult the course was playing. It doesn't take much to get out of position here. Unfortunately, I got out of position a lot yesterday and a couple of times today.”