Tiger Woods visited Augusta over the weekend and reportedly played a practice round at Augusta National with club chairman Fred Ridley and Justin Thomas as the five-time Masters champion prepares for next week’s tournament.
Woods’ arrival was tweeted by the Tiger-tracking X account TWlegion, and the playing companions were confirmed by Sports Illustrated’s Bob Harig.
Woods, 48, has made only one start this year. He withdrew from the Genesis Invitational, which he hosts and benefits his foundation, after six holes of the second round, citing an illness that he later said was the flu. Since a single-vehicle rollover crash in February 2021 that resulted in multiple surgeries to rebuild his mangled right leg, Woods has made only six starts on the PGA Tour, with three withdrawals and a missed cut among them and no result better than T-45.
The window to qualify for the Masters is rapidly closing, with only one way into Augusta National this week: victory at the Valero Texas Open.
Byeong Hun An was projected to have qualified today via the top 50 in the Official World Golf Ranking. An, who was ranked No. 42, has three top-10 results in eight starts this year. He has not competed in the Masters since 2021.
With Stephan Jaeger having qualified late Sunday by winning the PGA Tour's Texas Children's Houston Open, South Korea’s An would be the 88th player in the Masters field. READ MORE
Seven Masters champions with a total of 10 green jackets, led by 2023 winner Jon Rahm, will headline the LIV Golf Miami tournament this weekend at the Doral Blue Monster course near Miami in a de facto Masters prep. Thirteen LIV members are eligible to compete at the Masters. READ MORE
Fred Couples withdrew for a second consecutive week on the Champions Tour, citing an aching back and calling into question his status for next week’s Masters. Couples, 64, the 1992 Masters champion, has a lifetime exemption to compete at Augusta National, which in recent years has been his lone start on the PGA Tour. READ MORE
Chris DiMarco
ORLANDO RAMIREZ, GETTY IMAGES
TAP-INS
Puma Rodriguez, the 38-year-old veteran from San Luis, Argentina, had to withdraw while playing the second round of the PGA Tour Americas event in Mexico on Friday after learning that his wife, Victoria, was in critical condition after getting sick with dengue fever. Victoria's health deteriorated rather quickly, and she passed away while Puma was making the 5,000-mile trip back home. READ MORE
TGL, the new team golf league backed by Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy and many of the game’s biggest stars, has reset its launch for January 7, 2025, the first of three consecutive Tuesday night competitions. The tech-infused indoor TGL had its debut delayed by a year when the air-supported dome in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida, collapsed last fall. The SoFi Center was redesigned as a steel-supported structure. READ MORE
Phil Mickelson saluted his younger brother, Tim, who has retired from caddying after eight years on the bag, in a social-media post. READ MORE
This week’s $2 million LPGA Match Play will feature a new format that combines stroke and match play. Ninety-six players will begin Wednesday at Shadow Creek in Las Vegas, Nevada, with two days of 36 holes before a cut to the low 65 and ties. After the third round, the low eight will advance to match play, with the championship to be played Sunday. READ MORE
The JM Eagle LA Championship boosted its purse by $750,000, to $3.75 million, making this month’s tournament the highest-paying event on the LPGA schedule outside of the major championships and the season-ending CME Group Tour Championship. READ MORE
The Kroger Queen City Championship will be changing courses for its third edition. The tournament, played for the past two years at Kenwood Country Club in Cincinnati, Ohio, will be moving north of the city. TPC River’s Bend in Maineville will host the $2 million event on September 19-22, the LPGA announced. TPC River’s Bend is a former host of the Champions, Korn Ferry and Epson tours. READ MORE
Compiled by Steve Harmon