[jwplayer hHMcux8N]
A refreshed Tiger Woods, sporting a goatee out of what he termed “laziness,” conducted a video interview with Golf TV’s Henni Zuel and confirmed he would have been ready to defend his title this week at the Masters had it not been postponed. Woods — who has not competed since Feb. 16 when he disclosed back stiffness at the Genesis and missed the WGC Mexico, Arnold Palmer Invitational and the Players Championship complaining that his back continued to flare up — said his health had made great strides.
“Night and day. I feel a lot better than I did then,” said Woods, who has competed only twice this year, finishing in a tie for ninth at the Farmers Insurance Open in January and 68th – last among those who made the cut – at Riviera Country Club. “I’ve been able to turn a negative into a positive and been able to train a lot and get my body to where I think it should be at. I’ve been able to play some golf. Fortunately, Medalist Golf Club is still open here – virtually every course to the south of us is closed, but we remain open, so it’s been nice to go out there and hit some golf balls a little bit. You need to get some fresh air and do something.”
The Golf Channel’s Notah Begay III, a former teammate of Woods at Stanford, called the extended layoff due to the coronavirus pandemic a “blessing in disguise” for Woods and his pursuit of winning his 16th major.
“First and foremost, a lot of question marks about where the back was,” Begay said. “It was sore. There wasn’t a lot of mobility. He was trying to fire it up, and it wasn’t responding to the levels that he felt like he needed to play. So he wanted to give it rest.
“In staying in touch with him this break, he’s just been literally relieved. He’s like, ‘I don’t have — I’m not rushed. I don’t feel like I’m having to do anything that is on a specific timeline.’ And even in the uncertainties even a week ago what the schedule was going to look like, if there was even going to be a schedule, he’s just like, ‘I’m still working on it.’ He’s staying strong, going through all the things that he has to do to sort of maintain the health of his back.”
Checking in with @TigerWoods at home.
Watch in full: https://t.co/xw2ITzgLj5 pic.twitter.com/NC1ZCOCBvk
— GOLFTV (@GOLFTV) April 9, 2020
For Woods, the hardest part is the uncertainty of when he will play again.
“It’s weird practicing with no end goal to get ready for,” he said. “Hypothetically, it could be this, it could be that. It changes from day to day. There seems to be something new, something different, and that’s one of the more difficult parts about it.
“You’ve seen players out there walking their dogs, some run the golf course, just doing some kind of daily activity gives them exercise and some peace of mind. Especially for the guys who were playing quite a bit and then have been shut down, they were gearing up, and I was talking to JT (Justin Thomas) about this the other day and I felt energetic, I felt really alive and wired and kind of irritable and I didn’t know what was going on.
“And I realized it was Sunday morning. I was supposed to be flying out to (the Drive, Chip and Putt) to hand out trophies to all the award winners. And my body, subconsciously I knew I was supposed to be getting ready to leave and start playing the Masters. [I thought] it’s not that; you’re not playing this week.”
“I’m going to sit down with my team and figure out what is the best practice way, what is the best practice schedule, what are the tournaments that I need to play to be ready,” Woods added. “How much should I play? How much should I rest? All the things that are kind of up in the air.”
The postponement of the Masters until November gives Woods extended time with his green jacket, and he’s making the most of it, including backyard putting matches against son Charlie with possession of the jacket for the night on the line.
“Occasionally, it’s gone into his closet,” Woods said. “There’s no wins that are given in this family, you earn all your wins. It’s been fun to see him tease me about beating me and being able to wear the jacket and have it in his closet — where he says it belongs.
“This is not the way that I would’ve wanted to keep the jacket for a longer period of time. I wanted to get out there and compete for it and earn it again, like I did in ’02 (when Woods successfully defended his title). But it’s not a normal circumstance, it’s not a normal world. It’s a very fluid environment, and it’s very different for all of us. Fortunately, we potentially could have a Masters in November and play it then. I guess I’ll be defending then, and hopefully that all comes about.”
In the meantime, Woods has been helping his kids do a 2,000-piece puzzle – “Once we get done with the borders, I’m useless,” said Woods, noting he’s partially color blind – getting them dialed in for online classes, and activities such as backyard tennis and increased cycling to pass the time. Woods also bestowed some words of wisdom on how to carry through these difficult times.
“I go back to what my dad used to say, and that it’s true that he got through a lot of tough times, ‘Don’t look at it day by day,’ ” Woods said. “He used to say, ‘Take it one meal to the next.’ So you go at it until the next meal, and then you figure it out, go out and get it until the next meal. When times are slow like when days feel like months or even years, you just try and break it up into pieces when you can accomplish things.
“Unfortunately for myself, I’ve been through episodes like this in my career with my back where seconds seem like months. You have to slow things down and do things at a different pace. Look at things with a different lens, from a different perspective, where you can accomplish goals, and I think at this point in time going from meal to meal has worked. I don’t know how long this is going to work, how long we’re going to be in this pandemic, but for us it’s been these mini-goals that’s allowed us to keep going forward, and next thing you know it’s nighttime and it’s time for bed.”
Speaking of meals, Woods also confirmed some additional details from the social media post of his quarantined champions dinner with family on Tuesday night.
“I had exactly the same,” he said. “We had steak and chicken pieces, sushi and sashimi. We had cupcakes and milkshakes for dessert. So it was exactly what I was going to serve. As I said, Masters dinner quarantine-style with my family. We had a lot of fun, and eventually it got a little bit interesting at the end, a little ugly, where icing was flowing across people’s hair and face.”
Masters Champions Dinner quarantine style. Nothing better than being with family. pic.twitter.com/xPK769CWCf
— Tiger Woods (@TigerWoods) April 7, 2020
If all goes as planned, Woods will get a chance to host the Champions Dinner on Nov. 10, with the Masters re-scheduled for Nov. 12-15.
Woods is a paid ambassador of Golf TV. You can watch the entire interview here.