AUGUSTA, Ga. — He still thinks he can win.
Tiger Woods, at age 48 with a litany of physical ailments and playing in his 26th Masters this week at Augusta National, on Tuesday said he still believes he has it in him to win a record-tying sixth green jacket.
“If everything comes together, I think I can get one more,” Woods said. “Do I need to describe that any more than that, or are we good?”
Woods, whose world ranking has plummeted to 959th, has played in only one tournament this year and failed to make it through two rounds, withdrawing from the second round of the Genesis Invitational in February with the flu.
The last PGA Tour event Woods played in all four rounds was the 2023 Genesis Invitational. The only other full-field event he played in 2023 was the Masters, at which he had to withdraw after two rounds with physical ailments.
Woods has stated on more than one occasion in the past year that his goal has been to play one event a month. So, it was presumed that after the Genesis he’d play either the Players Championship or the Arnold Palmer Invitational in March in preparation for this week’s Masters.
Woods, however, played in neither.
“I wasn’t ready to play,” Woods said. “My body wasn’t ready. My game wasn’t ready. And I thought that when I was at Hero (in December), once a month would be a really nice rhythm. Hasn’t worked out that way. But now we have major championships every month from here through July, so now the once a month hopefully kicks in.”
Woods is in pursuit of two significant Masters records this week. If he makes the cut, it’ll be the 24th consecutive time he’s done that, which would break the record held by his good friend Fred Couples and Bernhard Langer, who did it 23 ties.
A win would tie Jack Nicklaus for the most in Masters history at six. Woods won his fifth Masters in 2019, five years ago, which feels like an eternity considering what he’s dealt with physically off the golf course.
Nicklaus, for years, publicly resisted the thought of becoming a ceremonial golfer, which is exactly what he became at Augusta after he was past his ability to compete to win.
Woods was asked on Tuesday whether he was reaching the point of his mortality as a competitor and having thoughts about eventually being a ceremonial golfer at the Masters.
“No, no,” he said. “I have not thought about being an (honorary) starter here, no.”
Asked if, in a more immediate sense what’ll happen when he doesn’t think everything can come together and result in a win, he said, “Well, I still think they can, so I don’t know when that day is or when that day comes, but I still think that I can. I haven’t got to that point where I don’t think I can’t.’’
Woods on Tuesday morning played the front nine with Couples and Justin Thomas after playing the back on Monday with Will Zalatoris.
“Tiger is hitting it pure,” Couples said Tuesday. “I don’t stare at his gait much, but he just hits it so good. He said his back is doing OK. I think last year (when he had to withdraw) it was so bad that a lot of things just wore him down, playing in that rain, moving around slowly, sluggish.
“But this year, he looks strong and he’s excited to play, and I think he looks really, really good.”