Tiger Woods should have been trying to keep his Masters green jacket out of the clutches of the world’s top golfers over the next four days, but instead he plans to battle his 11-year-old son Charlie for it over putting competitions.
The Masters — which Woods won in a magical fashion for a fifth time a year ago, claiming his first major since 2008 — has been postponed until November due to the COVID-19 pandemic, which has shut down world sports on an unprecedented scale.
Like his rivals, Tiger Woods, 44, has been trying to stay busy at home, as he waits for the day that the PGA Tour can restart.
While he has enjoyed the family time, including 2,000-piece jigsaw puzzles and cupcakes, Tiger Woods said that being “wired” to play, but not preparing for Augusta’s first tee has been difficult.
His local course — Medalist Golf Club in Hobe Sound, Florida — has remained open, but playing against Charlie has meant that he can sharpen his competitive instincts.
“We’ve been able to go out there and compete,” Tiger Woods said in an interview with Discovery-owned golf streaming service GOLFTV. “He’s got a lot better at throwing the needle at me now, and he’s accepting it faster and reversing it back. We have a deal: In the backyard generally every night, we’ll play putting matches and the winner gets to keep the green jacket in the closet.”
“Occasionally, it’s gone into his closet,” Tiger Woods said. “Primarily, it’s stayed in mine, but the fact he’s been able to earn it off me — because there are no wins that are given in this family. 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.”
As a defending champion, the build-up to the Masters is unique, and not being able to host the Champions Dinner, or enjoy the par-three event held the day before, has left a void.
Tiger Woods held instead an improvised Champions Dinner at home, with partner Erica Herman and children Charlie and Sam.
“We had exactly the same. We had steak and chicken pieces, sushi and sashimi,” he said. “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.’ It got a little bit interesting at the end, a little ugly, where icing was flowing across people’s hair and faces. We had a little bit of fun at the end.”
However, joking aside, Tiger Woods said that the Masters postponement has been tough.
“This is not the way that I would’ve wanted to keep the jacket for a longer period of time,” he said. “I wanted to get out there, and compete for it and earn it again. I’m wired — I’ve been doing it for 25 years now, and so it’s hard to find the wire, those circuits now. I do feel a little edgy. I want to get there and play — I want to compete.”
“Fortunately, we potentially could have a Masters in November and play it then,” he said. “I guess I’ll be defending then and hopefully that all comes about.”
The long injury layoffs that have snagged his career have also helped him deal with the current situation he describes as “a war with an invisible enemy.”
“I’ve been through episodes like this in my career because of my back, where seconds seem like months — you have to slow things down and do things at a different pace,” he said. “I know it’s frustrating, it’s boring at times, but in the end we are trying to save lives, flatten the curve. It’s not a normal world. My dad used to say: ‘Take it one meal to the next’ — so you go at it until the next meal.”
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