Editor’s note: This story was updated after Woods withdrew from the Masters Sunday.
AUGUSTA – The good news was that Tiger Woods, by one of the last remaining follicles on his head, just did make his 23rd straight Masters cut. Another record is his, never mind that this one will land in very small print on the back page of his career chronicles.
The bad news, as this rainy tournament lumps more stress upon its players, was that Tiger Woods made his 23rd straight Masters cut.
Try convincing a mangled right leg that it was a good idea to grind this hard just for the right to walk 36 more hilly holes in the cold and damp. Especially when the other option was a comfortable ottoman back in Florida. That option became too appealing, and he withdrew Sunday morning.
For Woods, 29 of those holes remained to be walked Sunday after the third round was called on account of rain, stranding him on his first nine. Walking 18 on Thursday left him in “constant” pain from that leg almost lost to a one-car auto accident in 2021. Any more was a step too far.
The 2023 Masters became a survival test of Woods’ affection for this tournament. How much could he endure just to play a minor supporting role in it? The answer came Sunday morn: Not this much.
Now we wonder if we’ll see him walk here again. Or walk anywhere again. If Woods can’t summon enough to play in the event he most adores, where else can he?
The last vision of him Saturday was just sad. Sore, soaked to the bone and, worse yet, going bogey-double bogey-double bogey over his last three holes before the stoppage, Woods seemed beaten physically and mentally. When play ceased Saturday, Woods, at 9 over, was last among the 54 players left after the cut. A full three strokes separated him from 53rd place.
There was all the usual intrigue atop the leaderboard going into Masters Sunday, when hopefully they’ll make up the lost holes and complete play.
Brooks Koepka has become accustomed to playing only 54 holes in that LIV aberration he now inhabits. If after finishing his third round he resists the urge to demand his trophy and his pay before leaving skid marks on Magnolia Lane, there could be quite a finish setting up Sunday.
Two heavyweights are at the lead of this one – Koepka and Jon Rahm. Who wouldn’t want to see those two guys wrestle around in the mud, or at the very least, match power fades with a Masters at stake?
At the very bottom of the same board a different kind of drama took shape.
Woods showed up at dawn Saturday with one foot on rain-slicked Augusta National and the other on a private plane heading south. At 2 over through 11 holes Friday when rain and crashing lumber ended his second round, he was on the narrow ledge of the cut.
All he had to play for was simple competitive survival, and to tie Fred Couples and Gary Player for most consecutive made Masters cuts. That accomplishment is to the Woods catalog what “Yellow Submarine” is to the Beatles’, a trivial aside.
At this stage of life, victories come in smaller packages for Woods. Here was a huge crowd defying the rain Saturday morning to rally for a five-time Masters winner playing only for the right to hang around a little while longer. No victory on the line, just a license to loiter rather than contend.
Later, in a brief stopover at the flash interview area behind the clubhouse, Woods touched on how just being here meant so much now and why maybe he’d go through all this.
“I’ve always loved this golf course, and I love playing this event. Obviously I’ve missed a couple with some injuries, but I’ve always wanted to play here. I’ve loved it,” he said.
As Woods spoke with more players still on the course finishing their second round, it looked doubtful he’d make the cut. Thanks to closing bogeys on Nos. 17 and 18, he had dropped another stroke to go to 3 over. The cut line at that moment stood at 2 over.
He joked, because of the rain delay, that he at least “got a chance to play on the weekend.”
“I wish I get a chance to play two more rounds,” he said.
Wish granted, thanks to his good buddy Justin Thomas. Behind Woods, Thomas was butchering his back nine, going 6-over 42 to drop to 4 over for the tournament. With him gone, the cut – consisting of top 50 players, including ties – shifted to 3 over. Woods was right on the number.
Quickly a wish seemed to morph into a hard obligation that in the end he couldn’t meet.
Woods reemerged shortly after 1 p.m. Saturday, dressed more for Carnoustie than for a piney corner of Georgia. He had changed into a dry pair of sleeves and a warm vest. And had fitted a knit cap over his billed one. He wore neither the face nor the wardrobe of a happy man.
Going off on the back 9, Woods left his approach to No. 10 short and his 7-footer to save par veered hard left off the hole.
He parred his way around Amen Corner only to confront a nightmarish three-hole stretch.
Par 4 14th: Drive left into the trees; second shot clattering around the forest and staying put; third to the front of the green, two putts – bogey 5.
Par 5 15th: Lay up; third shot spinning back off the green into the water (long slump followed); fourth shot to 11 feet; two putts – double bogey 7.
Par 3 16th: With the pin set to the far right of the green, tee shot splashing midway into the pond on the left; third shot to the front of the green; two putts – double bogey 5.
All that rain. Now all that water. Enough to drown anyone’s soul.
When the horn sounded to end play Saturday, we left Woods in the bunker fronting the green at the par 4 17th.
Woods would have to summon every bit of love he has for the Masters to climb back down into the sand once play resumed Sunday, knowing there was an especially long, painful walk ahead with no glory in sight. In the end, he just couldn’t do it, forced to quit on a week that he has always valued above all others.
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