As he has done in the past, Tiger Woods will « put the clubs away » for a few weeks following the Masters as he mulls over which tournament he will play in next.
AUGUSTA, Ga. — Tiger Woods is ready to exhale. After weeks of hype and a return to the Masters after three years that were relatively disappointing, the 14-time major champion is looking forward to a break before resetting again.
« Generally after this tournament, I put away the clubs for a while, » said Woods, who shot his best score of the week, a 3-under-par 69. « I usually take three to four weeks off, through my entire career, and usually the clubs are put in the closet, and I just kind of get away for a while.
« The run-up to this event is pretty hard and pretty grueling. I pushed myself pretty hard to get ready. And I peaked at it four times [in his victories] over the course of my career, and it’s tiring. »
Woods couldn’t quite put it all together in his sixth tournament of the year in his comeback from spinal fusion surgery.
His play on the par-5s plagued him for the first three rounds, then he played them in 5-under-par Sunday, making his first eagle of the year. But he missed short birdie putts at the first and seventh holes and three-putted the 18th for a bogey.
All week, Woods lamented his iron play, which kept him from having more legitimate birdie opportunities.
« It was surprising for him, » caddie Joe LaCava said. « I think it’s by far the strength of his game. From 150 [yards] in, it was not very good, which isn’t like him. So the first word that comes to mind is disappointing as a whole, knowing he’s playing halfway decent coming in.
« But I tell people the same thing: It’s six tournaments. Let’s not get carried away. He was certainly trending in the right direction, so to finish 35th or whatever he finished… it sucks, disappointing for sure. »
As LaCava added: « The good news is he’s, like, money with the driving, but he can’t hit the green with a lob wedge. It’s beyond weird. It’s not like him. »
Woods mostly chalked it up to golf, a game that constantly perplexes. He said Sunday’s 69 was the highest score he could have shot, and he’s right. He missed five putts from inside 6 feet and had two three-putts. He hit 15 of 18 greens but took 32 putts.
The four-time Masters champion said in the big picture, he was glad to be back competing again at a place that he missed, though LaCava said that was not the vibe he got.
« He was here for one reason, » LaCava said. « It was never like, ‘It feels great to be back at Augusta National.’ I heard more ‘I sucks’ than I heard ‘It’s great to be back.’ But today was one round, he played a little better, and he ended up on a positive note. »
Woods will move into the top 100 in the world for the first time in three years. He’ll move up a few spots from 44th in the FedEx Cup standings. He’ll plot his next move — mostly likely to be at the Wells Fargo Championship in just over three weeks followed by the Players Championship.
« I think things are progressing, » he said. « And it was a little bit disappointing I didn’t hit my irons as well as I needed to for this particular week. You miss it just a touch here, it gets magnified. And I just didn’t do a good enough job this week in that regard. But overall, I’m six tournaments into it, to be able to compete out here and to score like I did, it feels good. »
