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AUGUSTA, Ga. — “Tiger!” came the voice from the gallery around the ninth tee. “Are you going to play the back nine?”
“Today?” Woods replied in an are-you-kidding-me? tone.
No, Woods didn’t play Augusta’s second nine on Monday, just like he didn’t play holes 1-9 on Sunday. He’s pacing himself, preparing for what would be a landmark comeback from a catastrophic car wreck 14 months ago that left him with a pair of broken legs.
As of Monday evening, Woods still hadn’t committed to playing 18 holes in a day yet and still hasn’t announced his intention for the Masters, which starts Thursday. But consider these clues:
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Woods walked gingerly but largely without a limp Monday, a day after doing the same thing on the course’s far steeper second nine.
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He spent most of the round in full dialed-in Tiger mode, ignoring the hundreds of “Let’s go Tiger!” calls. But he was aware enough to slap fives with several young children and at least one young man confined to a wheelchair.
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He was loose, joking with playing partners Justin Thomas and Fred Couples, and bouncing a ball on the face of his driver as he walked from the eighth green to the ninth tee.
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He played well, outdriving Thomas on several holes and reaching the green of the par-5 eighth in two. His putts rolled true, even if he didn’t bend down to read greens beforehand.
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Most notably, he spent considerable time putting to what, in most years, have been Sunday pin positions. That’s not the kind of thing one does when they’re on the last holes of a casual walk around the course.
This time last year, Woods was in seclusion, healing and rehabilitating out of public view from an accident so devastating that he nearly lost a leg. Orthopedic specialists at the time said it could be months, if not years, before Woods was able to even walk normally, much less play golf at an elite level again.
Woods was a social media specter; Golf Twitter dissected video of him walking with a limp or swinging a club like…
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Source : yahoo
