Masters 2020: Small Chances and High Hopes for Tiger Woods
Tiger Woods’ performance at last year’s Masters was simply astonishing. Nobody expected anything from him anymore. But he won a green jacket. It was his first major title in 11 years. And it was one of the most impressive comeback victories.
Because of the COVID pandemic, Tiger managed to keep his green jacket for 19 months instead of 12. But the time has come and now he has to defend the title. Is he able to do it?
Since winning the jacket a year and a half ago, Woods hasn’t been in his best shape. He played with minimal success, with only a few exceptions.
But things went even worse for Tiger in recent months. Here is the latest Tiger Woods news. At the U.S. Open, he didn’t manage to make a cut. At the Zozo championship in Japan Tiger finished 72nd. Not so brilliant results for a golf legend.
Even his caddie Joe LaCava admitted that Tiger looked rusty. He needed more practice to be ready for tournaments.
At the last Masters, Woods shut up all the skeptics and proved to everybody that he could win. And we hoped that it would be the return of the really strong Tiger Woods. Obviously, this did not happen.
But maybe this is the way it should be? Woods has already done his best. He is not able to show super results anymore because his health is too poor and his body has big limits. And the tiger Tiger has become old and needs a rest.
Woods explains his recent poor performances with been unable to do everything right at the same time. He admitted that he hadn’t practiced enough because of the COVID situation. But he hopes to get it right these days at the Masters.
So Tiger keeps on hoping. But are there any reasons for such hope? In addition to the latest statistics, which does not increase Tiger’s chances of winning, there are other factors. Do not forget about other players who are peaking at this moment. Among them are Dustin Johnson, Brooks Koepka, and Bryson DeChambeau. Lately, everyone has been talking about DeShambo’s new muscles that have taken his game to a new level. By the way, Tiger also praised Bryson for his tremendous progress in such a short period.
When Tiger Woods won Masters last time, we saw his game take a big step forward. But does he have enough in the tank now to be a real contender?
Tiger says he does and promises to contend. He explains that for this golf course it’s very important to understand the way you should play.
And he is right. After all, we can say that Augusta National is Tiger’s ground. He knows this course very well and this gives him a huge advantage.
World No. 3 Justin Thomas is confident that it is precise because of this factor that Tiger Woods’ chances for winning are quite high. In Justin’s opinion, you don’t need to play great here for winning. If your game is okay, you still have all the chances. But you should know the golf course. And Tiger does.
John Ram, who topped the world golf rating in July also believes in Tiger Woods’s strength. Talking about Woods’ chances to defend his jacket, Ram said that Tiger is a brilliant iron player, he has a creative short game and Tiger can beat Robert any year.
At the same time, we shouldn’t forget about the season and the weather. After all, Augusta National in autumn is not the same as Augusta National in spring. There will be a lot of rain and possibly mud, so distance will matter more than ever. And even if Tiger is the best iron player of all time, it will be difficult for him to play in this weather. However, for everyone else as well.
Tiger says he feels better than he did last year. If this is true, maybe he can still improve the quality of his game in time.
There are so many talks about whether Tiger Woods can defend his green jacket. Yes, we would love to get that cherry on top. But whatever happens, only one thing can be said for sure – it will be a privilege to watch him defend his title.
