Will Tiger Woods play in the 2023 Masters?
Tiger Woods is one of the most loved golfers of all time and now whenever he plays, it becomes a celebration for his fans. Since meeting with the horrific car accident a couple of years back, the ace golfer has not played much on the Tour. It is almost confirmed that he will not play regularly in the future as well.
He said in a CBS interview:
"Competitively, you know, I don't know my goal. You know, each and every year from here going forward, my goal is playing all the majors, and I'm not going to play too much more than that. My body, my leg, just my back, just won't allow me to play much more than that anymore."
The 2023 Masters Tournament is about to start in less than a week. There is still a cloud of suspense over the participation of one of the tournament's most decorated players.
Tiger is eyeing 18 major victories, a record set by Jack Nicklaus, but his serious injuries in recent years have limited his progress.
Woods, in all likelihood, will be present at Augusta National next week. However, he is yet to confirm it officially.
"Like I told you guys last year, I'm not going to play any more than probably the majors and maybe a couple more," Woods said after playing in The Genesis Invitational last month. "That's it, that's all my body will allow me to do."
Genesis was the last PGA event Woods featured in, where he finished at T-45. He opted out of The Players Championship, which is also known as the "fifth major".
Woods appeared in the 2022 Masters and successfully made the cut in his 22nd Masters. He finished at T-47, posting 13-over, his worst performance at Augusta National.
The odds are not much in favor of Tiger this year, but he showed at Riviera that he still has the game. PointBet has put him at +5500 to win.
"If I’m playing, I’m playing to win. I know that players have played, and they are ambassadors of the game and try to grow the game. I can’t wrap my mind around that as a competitor. If I’m playing in the event, I’m going to try and beat you. I’m there to get a W," Tiger said.
As Tiger said during the Genesis event, if he plays in the event, he plays to win so one can never count him out
Tiger Woods previous wins at the Masters
Woods has emerged victorious at Augusta National five times, the second-most wins in tournament history. His first win at the Masters came in 1997 when he was just 21 years and 104 days old, making him the youngest Masters winner.
Woods' second win came in 2001 and his third the following year. He became only the third golfer after Jack Nicklaus and Nick Faldo to record consecutive wins at the Masters. Woods' fourth Masters victory came in 2005. His last Masters victory came 15 years later in 2019 which was his first major win in a decade.