Tiger Woods looks very doubtful for the Masters

LOS ANGELES – Tiger Woods made his first public comments on Sunday since his fifth back surgery in December, and he left significant doubt about whether he could play the Masters in April.

Woods, 45, whose foundation is the beneficiary of the Genesis Invitational, flew to Los Angeles on Saturday so that he could present the trophy to the winner. He sat in the CBS booth with Jim Nantz for a short period of time during the last nine of Sunday’s final round.

And when Nantz asked Woods if he’d be ready to play Augusta in seven weeks, Woods said, “God, I hope so. I have to get there first. Much of it is based on my surgeons, doctors and therapist and making sure I’m doing it right. It’s the only back I have, I don’t have much room to maneuver anymore.

Woods underwent surgery on December 23, 2020 and announced it on January 19 on Twitter, saying, “Tiger recently had a microdiscectomy procedure to remove a pressurized disc fragment that was pinching his nerve after experiencing discomfort after the surgery. PNC championship. His doctors and their team have determined he is successful and expect him to make a full recovery. ”

Woods added in the post, “I can’t wait to start training and I’m focused on my return to the Tour. ”

Asked about his back, Woods said, “I feel great. I am a little stiff. I have another MRI scheduled so we can see if the ring has finally healed and I can start doing more activities. But still in the gym, still doing the mundane things you need to do for rehab, the little things before I can start to gravitate towards something a little more. ”

The only thing Woods said he did outside of the game was stretch his putter out so he doesn’t have to lean that far. It is now the same length as its wedge of sand.

“I do a lot of puttering exercises doing putts, hitting the equator with my sand wedge and I thought if I do a lot with that I will stretch my putter the same length and it got me. helped, ”Woods said.

Woods played in just nine official events in 2020 and had a top-10 – a tie for ninth at the Farmers Insurance Open, his first event of 2020. He played in a father-son event with his son Charlie in December in Florida and had the surgery soon after.