Experts Curtis Strange, Andy North and Notah Begay III weigh in on Tiger Woods’ chances at 2024 Masters
Tiger Woods’s bid for a record-tying sixth Green Jacket and 16th major title remains very much a mystery.
We know he’s registered as a contestant and that he took a scouting trip last weekend with Justin Thomas. But the last time he played a PGA Tour event he withdrew citing illness in February from the Genesis Invitational after hitting his tee shot on the seventh hole. He did play in the one-day Seminole Pro-Member in March but that’s it. He was a no-show at the Arnold Palmer Invitational, where he’s an eight-time champ, and the Players Championship, where he won twice. So, lacking in reps, to borrow a phrase he likes to use.
Hard to believe it’s already been five years since Tiger’s dramatic victory in notching his fifth Masters title and first major since the 2008 U.S. Open. He is scheduled to make his 26th career start at the Masters and would break a tie with Gary Player and Fred Couples if he were to make the weekend. It would be his 25th consecutive time making the cut. Last year, Tiger withdrew after making the cut, ended up requiring another surgery on his ankle – a subtalar fusion procedure to address issues stemming from his car crash in February 2021 – soon after and wasn’t seen again until the Hero World Challenge in late November and PNC Championship in December.
Here’s what the experts at Golf Channel and ESPN had to say about what they expect from Tiger next week.
Golf Channel’s Notah Begay III and Rich Lerner on Tiger
Tiger Woods (left) and Notah Begay (right) walk on the third hole during the third round of the Hero World Challenge golf tournament at Albany. Mandatory Credit: Kyle Terada-USA TODAY Sports
Q: We haven’t seen Tiger for a while, really since the one full round he played in February. Have you any insight you can share with us, what we might expect from his next week?
NOTAH BEGAY: Well, the recipe hasn’t changed. He’s trying to formulate a strategy and approach that he can work within the constraints that he’s presented with. He’s got some major constraints. He’s got zero mobility in that left ankle and really has some low back challenges now, which he knew he was going to have.
After the ankle surgery I had a chance to visit with him when Charlie was playing in my junior golf event in Louisiana, and he said, my ankle doesn’t move, so something is going to take the stress. The stress is going to transfer somewhere else, and he goes, I don’t know where it’s going to be, but it might be my knee, it might be my hip, and it ended up being his low back.
This last couple months he’s just been spending trying to find a way to recover. He can play the golf, and we always knew the question mark was going to be can he walk the 72, 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 if the way he’s prepared for this year’s Masters is going to work for him.
How competitive can he be?
David Duval, Brandel Chamblee, Frank Nobilo and Rich Lerner on set to discuss the 2016 Masters at Augusta National Golf Club. (Photo: Andrew Redington/Getty Images)
Q: You talked about Tiger not knowing where the forces are going to go. Is this an example of why he may not have been able to play The Players because who knows how the back felt leading up to that, but he can then play the one-day Seminole pro-am? Is that where we are with not knowing how he’ll feel any given day?
NOTAH BEGAY: Well, exactly. He’s not going to risk going out — anytime Tiger tees it up in a sanctioned event, the guy gives it his all. Brandel and I stood there years ago and watched him just completely embarrass himself at the Waste Management Phoenix Open when he just couldn’t chip.
But I talked to him shortly thereafter, and he’s like, I never stopped trying. I didn’t know what was happening with my swing, but I just couldn’t chip, but I never stopped trying. He just doesn’t have that gear in him to give up. So if he goes out and tees it up in the Players a few weeks ago and something else happens and breaks down, then it jeopardizes the Masters.
The Players is such a crapshoot on your tee times and the wind conditions. It favors nobody. Why would he risk it there when he can go to Augusta where he knows the course better than any player walking on the grounds, where he’s at a distinct advantage, and it’s just a question — the same questions are in front of him. Can I walk this hilly course and what’s going to happen to me when I do?
I just don’t think the risk was worth it to him.
Rich Lerner: Tiger [Woods], the spartan recent record leans toward it’s over, but for those in the category best athletes of all time, the possibility of one more is never easily relinquished.
ESPN’s Andy North
Gary Woodland of the United States chips on the 10th hole with Andy North during a practice round prior to the Sony Open in Hawaii at Waialae Country Club on January 09, 2024 in Honolulu, Hawaii. (Photo by Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images)
ANDY NORTH: I think the hard thing is we don’t really know. We saw him in L.A. I thought he looked a lot better walking around from that standpoint. Then his back went out on him. We haven’t seen him since.
There’s talk, he’s been playing some golf, he’s been practicing. He’s been doing what he needs to do, but we really don’t know. Is his back OK? Can the rest of his body — we’ve talked so much since the accident about his leg and how hard it is to walk and all these other things, but we really don’t know.
He made a trip in there over the weekend and got a chance to play. To me, it’s always interesting to see what we see out of him. What he’s given us over the last 25 years has been just second to none. It’s been such a joy to be able to watch him.
If he were to say this is the last time he’s going to play, we’ve seen so much greatness out of him, good for him if he wants to walk away. I mean, he doesn’t have to do this for anybody else other than himself, and I think he still wants to prove that he can do it.
I truly believe that having Charlie around has probably helped him through this period of time where he’s been so injured to get him out there and keep playing and practice. How do you turn your kid down if he goes, Dad, let’s go play nine holes. That’s beautiful. I think that’s so neat they’ve had that the last four years.
You know, we don’t know. Would we love to see him come in here and hit a lot of good shots on Thursday and be under par and be in the mix of it? Of course we would. Again, if he shoots 68 or 78 the first day, you wouldn’t be surprised that anything could possibly happen.
ESPN’s Curtis Strange on if Tiger is becoming a ceremonial golfer and can he sustain good play for four days
Curtis Strange holds the U.S. Open Championship trophy over his head June 21, 1988 after defeating Nick Faldo in a playoff at The Country Club in Brookline, Massachusetts.
CURTIS STRANGE: I’m just glad he’s playing. There was speculation up until the last week or so, couple weeks.
You know, you mentioned ceremonial golfer. When you’re Jack Nicklaus, Tiger Woods, Arnold Palmer, that’s not a bad thing. People want to watch you play. No matter how you’re playing now, they want to be beside you. They want to shake your hand. They want to watch you.
We sometimes wonder why Arnold kept playing so long, because we wanted to be with him, we wanted to watch him. It didn’t matter what he shot. It didn’t matter about the shots he hit. We just kind of wanted him there, and I think the world thinks the same thing about Tiger.
There’s no doubt he’s going to hit a lot of good shots, and there’s no doubt he’s going to make some putts, but can he sustain that over two, three, four days? As Andy said, that’s a big question mark.
I’m just glad — we talked about watching some of the other players we haven’t seen much in the last year, and I’m glad you brought him up because we haven’t seen much of Tiger. It’s exciting. I know he gets excited going there. It’s all good whenever he plays.
Scott Van Pelt, Strange and North address is the Masters cut streak a source of motivation for Tiger
ESPN’s Scott Van Pelt looks on as Tiger Woods and Jason Dufner play a practice round ahead of the 2015 British Open
Q. Just a quick follow-up, if I could. Do you think it will be a record 25 straight cuts he would make, is that the streak he’s going for? Is that something that’s motivating him to just try and make the cut yet another time to break the record?
CURTIS STRANGE: I’d like to think that’s not the motivating factor behind Tiger Woods because he’s accomplished so much. I think, if he played on the weekend, there would be a satisfaction, yes, absolutely. I got to defer to Andy. Do you agree with that? He hasn’t played but once in how many months now?
ANDY NORTH: I think playing on the weekend would be a win, a win-win. 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.
Just to get him there and get around for the week and play some good golf and hit some nice shots, I think that would be awesome.
SCOTT VAN PELT: I know you didn’t ask me, but I’ve known Tiger for a long time. At first when you asked that, I shook my head, but the more I thought about it if you asked him in the press conference, and it will be asked, he’ll tell you he’s there to compete and to win. He means that. That’s not performative.
But I think quietly, alone with his thoughts on Friday, if you said you’ve played well enough to play two more rounds, I would have to think that that is a victory for the reasons they just spelled out.
