With the Masters now slated for November at the tail-end of a busy last quarter of the year for golf, Tiger Woods will now have more time to recover fully from a back injury as he seeks to defend the title for the second time in his career.
Woods has won the Masters five times, with the first successful defence coming in 2002 when he was at the peak of his prowess. The 15-time Major winner noted that he would have to look at the revamped 2020 schedule with his team and figure out the right practice regime and tournament line-up so he can peak at the right time.
In an interview with GOLFTV’s Henni Zuel, Woods stressed that “this is not the way that I 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. But this is not the normal circumstances, not the normal world; this is a very fluid environment and it’s different for all of us. Fortunately we can have the Masters in November and play it then … I guess I’ll be defending then and hopefully it all comes about,” said the 44-year-old, who has not played competitively since the Genesis Open in mid-February due to the niggling back injury.
While he is spending what would have been Masters week at home, Woods still managed to host the traditional Champion’s Dinner on Tuesday – but with his girlfriend Erica and two children, Sam Alexis and Charlie Axel, standing in for the past winners!
Woods posted on social media a photo of the meal at his home in Jupiter Island, Florida, with him decked out in the coveted Green Jacket he has won five times. Each year, the reigning champion selects the menu for the Champions Dinner, traditionally held on the Tuesday of tournament week.
While the menu mirrored what he would have served at Augusta National, there was another major difference in the home version … it ended in a cupcake food fight!
“We had a lot of fun and eventually it got a little bit interesting at the end, a little ugly … icing was flowing across people’s hair and face, and so we had a little bit of fun at the end,” Woods said in the GOLFTV interview, adding that he made sure he removed the Green Jacket before the food started flying.
