The Masters statement fell at 7:15 a.m. local time (1:15 p.m. French time), announcing the withdrawal of injured Tiger Woods. He will therefore not play the 11 holes that remained to be played in his third round, and the 18 of the last round, scheduled in stride. The last images released on Saturday did not suggest another way out, images difficult to see, those of a damaged man struggling to move. Woods was limping very low, and seemed to suffer even more from that right leg, that leg he had almost lost in his terrible car accident in February 2021.
He probably waited until nightfall and waking up to make a decision on the rest of the competition. The weather conditions obviously did not help his condition. Saturday, it was cold, and the ground was soaked by downpours. Despite this big physical problem and time, Tiger Woods had managed to cross the cut yesterday (+3), his 23rd in a row. An exceptional performance that allows him to join Gary Player and Fred Couples on the honor roll.
A now hypothetical presence on the circuit
The question now is whether we will see Woods again this year on a competition, and more broadly, if we will see him again one day on the circuit. The man with the five green jackets, at the 15 Majors, will not support the idea of playing, to play, without having the physical potential to mingle with the final victory. This year, the Masters was his second tournament, the first being the Genesis, played in February. Earlier in the week, he explained that he had taken a long time to recover.
The next Major, the PGA Championship, takes place in a month, May 18-21, in Oak Ill. Will it be returned? On Tuesday, as a reminder, he also said that when he played the 2022 Masters, and finally managed to pass the cut, he wondered if he would not play his last. He has already managed to stretch the time by a year.
