Tiger Woods will make a "game-time decision" on competing at next week's Masters, as he continues his recovery from the serious leg injuries suffered in a February 2021 car crash.
Six weeks ago, Woods said he had a "long way to go" in his recovery, but speculation has mounted with each passing day that his return could come at the April 7-10 Masters, after he refrained from removing his name from the field of competitors.
"I will be heading up to Augusta today to continue my preparation and practice," Woods tweeted. "It will be a game-time decision on whether I compete."
Woods' single-car crash resulted in a three-week hospital stay at Los Angeles, where he faced the possibility of having his right leg amputated. He was then confined to a hospital-type bed for three months at his home in South Florida.
Woods, 46, has not played on the PGA Tour since the November 2020 Masters. His only event since the accident came last December, when he finished runner-up alongside his son in a 36-hole exhibition played on a flat course with no rough.
Playing at Augusta National represents one of the more taxing walks on the PGA Tour, given its undulating terrain that all but assures golfers will hit from any number of uneven lies during the week.
But Woods is no stranger to playing through pain, something he famously proved at the 2008 US Open, where he prevailed in a thrilling playoff at Torrey Pines, while competing on essentially a broken leg.
Woods capped one of the most remarkable comebacks in professional sport, when - at the age of 43 - he won the 2019 Masters, after enduring years of surgery and personal problems that convinced many the best golfer of his generation was done.
Former world No.1 Rory McIlroy said it would be "phenomenal" for the sport to have Woods return to competition at Augusta.
Reuters
