by Tiger Woods shot a terrific 82 here, his highest round ever in a major, on the third day of the Masters as his injury toll and the extent of his rust became abundantly clear again.
After breaking the record on Friday for the most consecutive Masters cuts made – 24 – it wasn’t the kind of personal history he and his fans were hoping for. It was his 99th round in the first major of the season and his worst score by four shots.
Wood refused to blame his battered body when he explained what happened. “It was the fact that I wasn’t hitting very well or putting well,” he said. “I didn’t have a very good warm-up session, and I kept it going throughout today. Hit the ball in all the places I know I shouldn’t hit it. And I missed a lot of putts. Easy buttons, easy to do.”
The 48-year-old admitted at least that his efforts on Friday, in which he played 23 holes because of a weather delay in the first round, had worn him out. “Oh, yes, they did,” he said. But Woods is determined to complete an official tournament for the first time in two years, despite standing 11-over and only four players below him among the 60 players who made the cut.
“My team will get me ready,” Woods said. “It’s going to be a long night and a long warm-up session, but we’ll be ready.”
Last year he withdrew here during the third round due to injuries related to his 2021 car accident – which almost cost Woods his right leg – and since then he has played just one competitive round, after he withdrew during the second round at the LA Open. in February with illness. It’s a wonder he was able to compete at all.
Playing with Tyrrell Hatton – the Englishman who had his own problems, putting four on the 18th for 73 – Woods started with three pars. Despite his efforts the day before, he seemed quite comfortable, even trading a bogey for another birdie.
But disaster struck when he suffered two double bogeys in a row. The first came on the par-four seventh, where he hit his drive behind a tree and then smacked his third into a green bunker. And on the par-five eighth, where Hook was wild off the tee – with a strange, twisty hand movement – worse by three putts.
From that place he was not content to look at the galleries, which, almost to the exclusion of all other groups, swarmed around the two-ball. Another bogey on the ninth meant he had taken 42 shots on the front nine, the most in his 29 years at Augusta. There was a birdie on the back nine, but he was clearly struggling and bogeyed four in a row from the 14th.
“I wouldn’t necessarily say mental reps, it’s just that I haven’t competed and I’ve played a lot,” Woods said, when asked to find the faults. “When I had a chance to turn it around and I made that putt at the fifth, I made a quick three-putt at the sixth and a chip flub at the seventh and I got it the wrong way, and when I had opportunities to flip. it, I wasn’t.”
This was Hatton’s third round in the company of Woods, but his first in a major. He looked like breaking par for the first time at Augusta when he went under for the day on the 18th. But from 30 feet, he missed his first five-footer, then his second attempt a seven-footer and failed to convert. Hatton looked more wronged than Woods.
“For the kid in me playing with Tiger at the Masters, it’s really cool and I’m definitely not lost,” he said. “But at the same time, I’m going out there competing, trying to put together the best round I can and trying to move up the leaderboard. For 17 ½ holes I feel I did a great job of it. I’m devastated, to be honest. It’s tough to take. I don’t know how I have to play golf here to shoot under par.”
At three over, Hatton is outside the top 20. He is desperate to at least reach the top 12 and be invited back next year as he realizes that after joining LIV in January, he will not have much access to ranking points and will. his performances in regular events make it almost impossible to stay in the top 50 in the world. The majors have taken on huge importance for Hatton this year.
Rory McIIroy is another back after a 71, and defending champion Jon Rahm is five over after a 72.
Sunday’s winner will earn $3.6 million (£2.9 million), the most ever for a major championship. This is further evidence of the LIV effect. The total purse is $20 million, an increase of $2 million on 2023 and $5 million more than in 2022, when LIV was not yet formed. The prize fund is twice as high as in 2015 and the largest in history.
Except, it’s still $5 million less than what the PGA Tour pros competed in last month’s Players Championship and just about the same they’ll play at next week’s RBC Heritage in Hilton Head. Silly money. Silly game.
