Tiger Woods fades with third round 72, skipping the Masters debate

Augusta, ca. – Tiger Woods The green jacket he had been carrying for the past 19 months had not yet arrived with the idea of ​​staying at the Augusta National when he left the field on Sunday.

But it was in the back of his mind every week that his title defense would grow into the Masters season, knowing that the signature item to win this big championship could be kept in his locker here for a long time.

His 72 in the third round – after playing eight holes to finish the second round on Saturday morning – knocked him out of the controversy, leaving the five-time Masters champion simply unable to walk as the four-shot deficit turned into nine shots.

Woods said attending and speaking at the Champions Dinner on Tuesday was an emotional experience for him, who may have been aware of the difficulty in defending his title this week after a year of sluggish performances.

“I haven’t thought about tomorrow yet,” Woods said, managing two birds and two boogie, after leading four shots per round. “I focused on trying to get into the conflict by tomorrow. .Let’s see how emotional it will be after tomorrow’s round.”

Woods will put the green coat on someone else after another early tea time on Sunday.

It didn’t help him much on Saturday because the resumption of the second round started at 7:30 a.m. in a cold, wet condition. Woods managed a single and finished second round 71 and four backs with four co-leaders.

But that cold temperature and a quick break between rounds did nothing to help Woods’ back. Now three-and-a-half years away from spinal fusion surgery, Woods sometimes has problems with back stiffness, which became clear in the third round because he won several times after tea shots and bent over to pick up his tea with ginger or mark his ball on the greens.

“It’s part of the deal,” Woods said. “If you have long days like this, I’m going to be a little sore, it’s definitely me. I can walk all day. The hardest part is flexing. , I think it will always continue. “

This is Woods’ ninth match of 2020 since the corona virus infection stopped playing for three months. In that interval from June, Woods finished 37th in the Best Finishing PGA Championship. He was undisputed in any final round and was ranked 33rd out of six in the world rankings.

With 68-71-72 rounds, Woods has 211, under 5 and 11 shots behind the third round leader Dustin Johnson. He is tied for 21st.