Tiger Woods, fought his way back to the clubhouse, figuratively speaking, though it felt like a crawl, after carding a 10-over-par 82 for his worst round at the Masters Tournament.
“I didn’t have a very good warmup session, and I kept it going all day today,” he reflected. “Just hit the ball in all the places that I know I shouldn’t hit it.
“And I missed a lot of putts. Easy, makable putts. I missed a lot of them.”
In his storied career at Augusta, spanning 98 rounds, Woods had never before seen a score like this. His previous highest round previously was a 78 in 2022. Before that, his highest recorded mark was a 77, all the way back in ’95 when he was still an amateur.
Woods, a rare visitor to the 80s club in his career, has only hit that mark five times. The last time he soared to this height was in 2015, tallying an 85 in the third round of the Memorial and an 82 in the second round of the Phoenix Open. Historically, his previous worsts in Majors included an 81 at the ’02 British Open and an 80 at the ’15 U.S. Open.
As Woods trudged up the 18th fairway, sweat trickling down his face, the gallery rose in a heartfelt standing ovation. Tiger nodded in gratitude and touched his cap. Just a day earlier, he comfortably made the cut for a record 24th time at Augusta National. In this tumultuous week, that might be the silver lining.
“My team will get me ready,” he affirmed post-round, dispelling any notions of withdrawal. “It will be a long night and a long warmup session, but we’ll be ready.”
