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29 March 2024

Tiger struggling to avoid worst Masters finish

Published
By AFP

Tiger Woods, struggling to make birdies at Augusta National on the par-5 holes he once dominated, battled to a par-72 on Saturday in the third round of the Masters.

And while the 14-time Major champion would not rule himself out in the hunt for a fifth Masters champion's green jacket, his disappointing three-over 219 after 54 holes has him much closer to his worst Masters showing than the lead.

Woods was 12 strokes off the pace of third-round leader Peter Hanson of Sweden. The best final-round comeback by a winner in Masters history was eight strokes by Jack Burke in 1956.

"I'm so far back I need help from the guys (ahead of him to fall back) and I need to go out tomorrow and play a spectacular round," Woods said.

Last year, Woods began the last round seven adrift but pulled into a share of the lead before settling for a share of fourth.

"It's doable," Woods said. "If somebody shoots 4- or 5-under par, it's going to be tough to go get them. But you can be four, five, six back on the back nine and still win. I need to put myself there where I have a chance."

Woods, sharing 38th after 54 holes, is trying to avoid his worst Masters finish as a professional, which was a share of 22nd in 2004. Woods missed the cut in 1996 and shared 41st in his 1995 as an amateur.

"I didn't play that badly," Woods said of his third round. "It was so close to being a really good round of golf. I did not play the par-5s that well. I just didn't take care of the opportunities when I had them."

Indeed, Woods is only one-under par on par-5 holes through three rounds, going 1-for-12 in making birdies on par-5 chances. That's the fewest birdies on par-5s ever for Woods over 54 holes in 18 Masters starts.

"I've stubbed my foot on the par-5s," Woods said. "You should be able to play them at 3-under every day and I certainly have not done that."

Last year, Woods was 10-under on the par-5 holes and in 2010, after a long hiatus following his infamous sex scandal, he was 15-under on the par-5s.

World No. 7 Woods also leads the US PGA Tour on par-5 scoring with birdie or better 62 percent of the time, a factor in his victory two weeks ago at the Arnold Palmer Invitational to snap a 28-month win drought.

But Woods said he has had different problems with different aspects of his game on the par-5s, no single problem the main cause of his troubles.

"It was just one thing after another, so you have got to be patient, which I was. I was grinding hard and it was a tough day," Woods said.

"The greens are soft. You can get after some of the flags. But the wind is just puffy enough out there where you get different directions. A good shot can get a bad spot or a slope."

Retired Scottish star Colin Montgomerie pronounced Woods with no chance to pull off the stunning comeback victory after a struggle just to finish at par.

"That will get him in the top 20 but yes, he's done with it," Montgomerie told BBC TV. "He's obviously not back. He's nowhere near back. There's something far, far wrong still."

Three-time Masters champion Nick Faldo of England, commenting on CBS, said Woods lacks the belief in his abilities he enjoyed before the 2009 sex scandal that destroyed his iconic image.

"There are a few more demons sitting on his shoulders," Faldo said. "He hasn't got the same confidence in himself since he crashed and burned in his life. He really doesn't have that self belief he had five years ago."

Woods sank an eight-foot birdie putt at the par-4 third and hit a great tee shot for a tap-in birdie at the par-3 fourth, but took a bogey at the par-3 sixth and snap-hooked a tee shot at the ninth on the way to a bogey.

The former World No. 1, chasing the record 18 Major titles won by Jack Nicklaus, then parred his way through the back nine.

Woods salvaged par at the par-5 13th after hooking a tee shot left into the rocks near Rae's Creek and hurling his club to the ground in frustration a day after kicking another club.

"I certainly heard that people didn't like me kicking the club, but I didn't like it either," Woods said. "I hit it right in the bunker and didn't feel good on my toe either."