Leading into Sunday
On the Sunday before Masters week, Woods, Joe LaCava, his caddie, and Rob McNamara, vice president of TGR Ventures who has become Woods’ second wing man, spent a peaceful evening on the front nine at Augusta National. Woods only chipped and putted during his nearly three hours on the course.
After a practice round Monday, Woods didn’t play the course on a rainy Tuesday. He completed his prep with another practice round Wednesday. That evening he drove himself to the Golf Writers Association of America’s annual dinner to receive his Ben Hogan Award, which is given to someone “who has continued to be active in golf despite a physical handicap or serious illness.”
In an extended acceptance speech, Woods was light-hearted with an openness rarely seen in public. He dropped jokes while also revealing details about his spinal fusion surgery and the pain he endured before scalpels gave him a second life.
LaCava: Personally I wasn’t quite sure he had enough tournament rounds. We had a pretty light schedule going in. I think he knew he needed to save up some energy, and it was more important for him to be rested and get his back worked on versus playing tournament golf. But I think we needed one or two more tournaments to be a little sharper going in. But to his credit he did chipping and putting on Sunday night on the front nine for almost three hours, which I think was good. It’s nice to be out there by yourself to do your own thing for three hours. I think that got him in the right frame of mind. Getting rained out on Tuesday was a blessing. Saved some wear and tear. On Friday I think he played better than on any of the other days. That’s when I knew he was going to be in contention come Sunday.
Woods: Going into the Masters, I felt that my swing had finally turned the corner because I was trying to make sure that I could hit a high draw and call upon it with driver, 3-wood, 5-wood, any club in the bag. I somehow found it. The short game came around, I found something in my grip there, and the pieces started coming together. And on those greens, to be able to take some of the slope out with curve, even around the greens, spin the ball either left-to-right or right-to-left and flatten those out, it was fun. I had it right where I needed to be.