After speculation mounted regarding Tiger Woods’ participation in the 2024 Masters tournament, Woods confirmed that he would be playing in one of golf’s biggest major tournaments through an update to his website.
The Augusta National Golf Club, which runs the Masters, lists all golfers it invites to participate in the tournament as competitors on its site unless it receives notice that they are not appearing in the tournament.
As NBC Sports reports, in addition to Woods’ schedule update, the Masters added Woods to its press conference schedule. This is the clearest confirmation that Woods, who has won the most PGA Tour events in history, will participate in the tournament which helped establish his legend.
The Masters, which runs April 11-13, is the first major tournament of the year on the men’s calendar. Woods is scheduled to appear in the press conference on April 9 at 11 A.M. EDT, just before Rory McIlroy.
There is some concern over whether Woods will be able to walk the 7,555 yard course as his long-time friend and former teammate at Stanford University, Notah Begay, told USA Today on a conference call. “He’s trying to formulate a strategy and approach that he can work within given the constraints that he’s presented with. And he’s got some constraints,” Begay said. “He’s got zero mobility in that left ankle and really has low-back challenges now, which he knew he was going to have.”
Begay told the outlet that Woods told him personally at a junior golf tournament he hosts that his ankle doesn’t move. “My ankle doesn’t move. Woods told him. “So something’s going to take the stress. I mean, the stress is going to transfer somewhere else.”
Begay says the question is not about Woods’ ability to play golf; rather, it concerns his ability to ambulate after his injury during an accident, which almost cost him the lower half of his right leg in 2021. Woods has not completed an entire Masters tournament since the injury, most recently withdrawing in 2023 due to a foot injury.
“He can play the golf. We always knew the question was going to be ‘Can he walk the 72 (holes)?’ That’s still up in the air. But can he recover, from one round to the next? That’s the biggest question that I really don’t know and he’s not going to know either until he gets out there and figures out whether the way he’s prepared for this year’s Masters is going to work for him.”
Andy North, a golf commentator for ESPN, told USA Today that Woods just playing in the tournament is a win. “I think playing on the weekend would be a win, a win-win,” North said. “He’s going to tell you that he’s there because he thinks he can win the tournament, but to be realistic, what he’s gone through, you wouldn’t wish on your worst enemy. What he has to do to get ready to go out and try to play golf every single day is very, very difficult.”
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