Augusta, Georgia
As you’d anticipate, much of the dialog round this week’s Masters revolves round the golfers competing at Augusta National for the famed inexperienced jacket. But simply beneath the floor lies a somber dialogue about the most well-known man in the sport, who is a long way from here.
“Watching him win around this place in ’97 is kind of the reason I got into golf,” mentioned world No. 20 Harris English this week. “I know he’s going to get through this. He has a big fight ahead of him. He’s a fighter.”
Tiger Woods’ predicament has been highly publicized. Following a automobile crash in Florida final month, and the subsequent launch of quite a few police movies exhibiting the aftermath, the world was introduced with an unvarnished view of a broken hero.
No longer the dominant determine who received 15 main titles and transcended his sport, he was arrested for driving underneath the affect after rolling his automobile in a collision. According to the Martin County report, Deputy Tatiana Levenar noticed Woods to be sweating profusely, torpid and gradual. He was additionally discovered with a number of hydrocodone drugs in his pockets after the crash.
Exploring the beautiful panorama at Augusta National
He’s now scheduled for a court docket look in May, and prosecutors are searching for entry to his prescription information.
For so lengthy the largest gravitational pull on the narrative throughout Masters week, Woods is now conspicuous by his absence.
The golf neighborhood has turn into so conditioned to Woods’ apparently super-human qualities that many simply anticipate him to get well, regardless of the magnitude of the problem,
“He is arguably the king of comebacks,” famous 2023 Masters champion Jon Rahm.
NCS has reached out to Woods’ staff for touch upon the rumors that he’s flown to Switzerland for remedy – Woods said he’d be seeking treatment in an announcement days after the crash. His good friend Fred Couples alluded to Woods being in Switzerland when he spoke with reporters on Monday, sending him well-wishes.
“What would I tell him? I tell him I love him and things can always get better,” mentioned the 1992 Masters champion.
Couples expressed sympathy for Woods, sharing his personal expertise with again ache, however for some of Woods’ friends, that sympathy is certified with a caveat.
“It just shows the human element,” mentioned Jason Day, “Someone that is struggling with some sort of addiction. He’s not immune to it just because he can hit a golf ball really well. The only thing that I don’t understand is that it’s a little bit selfish of him to drive and put other people in harm’s way. But when you’re the player that he was, and how strong-willed he is, he thinks he can do almost anything.”
The three-time champion Gary Player went additional.
“Do I blame him for taking medicine? Hell, no. He has sleep deprivation. But I don’t think he should drive a car,” Player mentioned. “When you’re taking that medicine, it’s dangerous when you’re driving a car, same as it’s dangerous when you look at your cell phone in the car. There’s 6,000 accidents a day in motor cars.”
The 90-year-old Player urged Woods to place others earlier than himself, regardless of his personal notion of his capabilities: “All he’s got to do is just not drive a car and get a chauffeur. My reflexes, I think, are as good as when I was 20, but I don’t drive anymore. I get a chauffeur. I think that’s the answer to it.”
It’s value noting that Woods has not described himself as an addict, although his assertion final month alluded to searching for remedy and dealing “toward a lasting recovery.”
Even when the golfers weren’t being particularly requested about Woods, his title typically got here up in dialog. But such is the aggressive nature of the sport and the single-minded perspective required to succeed, the three-time Masters runner-up Justin Rose mentioned he hadn’t even observed that he wasn’t there.
“With great respect to those two players (Woods and Phil Mickelson, also absent this week), I hadn’t thought about it. We’re all kind of in our mindset. Obviously, you’re looking at your own sort of preparation cycle and having to play well,” Rose mentioned.
But the sentiment at Augusta this week is usually compassionate.
“We fully support Tiger’s recent decision to focus on his health and well-being,” mentioned the membership chairman, Fred Ridley. “Our commitment to the TGR Foundation and to Tiger personally has not wavered. We wish him the very best.”
“You know, it’s very easy, the human being is so critical of everything,” lamented Player. “Think of the excruciating ache that this man has been going via for a very long time. I simply hope he can get all of it sorted out as a result of he’s such an asset to golf and has performed so much for the sport.
“When we were young people, there were no Blacks playing the tour. I remember going to Charlie Sifford in 1957, and I said, ‘How did you play today?’ He said, ‘I’m not allowed to play, I’m Black.’ So, I experienced apartheid in South Africa and in America. Tiger comes along, and you realize what he does for the Black man around the world. So, my heart goes out for him.”