The 15-time major winner admits he’s still in no physical shape to play more than a handful of times a year.
Tellingly, though, he says it’s not the ankle shattered in a Los Angeles car accident in 2021 that troubles him these days.
“The ankle doesn’t hurt anymore. It’s fused. It’s not going anywhere. So that’s fine,” he said.
“It’s other parts of my body that now have to take the brunt of it. So once he put the rods in there, it’s good to go.
“But the back, the knee, other parts of the body have to take the load of it, and just the endurance capability of walking a long time and being on my feet for a long time.
“I ache. No, I ache every day. And I prefer it warm and humid and hot. And I know we’re going to get some thunderstorms so at least it will be hot. It won’t be like last year.”
Woods candidly conceded his 15-year-old son Charlie can now drive the ball past him but said length wouldn’t be the key this week to mastering Augusta once more.
“It’s consistency, it’s longevity and it’s an understanding of how to play this golf course,” he said.
“That’s one of the reasons why you see players that are in their 50s and 60s make cuts here, or it’s players in their late 40s have runs at winning the event, just the understanding of how to play it.
“Now, you still have to go out and execute it but there’s a lot of knowledge that goes into understanding how to play it.
“And granted, every tee box has been changed since the first time I played. Every green has been changed. But the overall configuration of how they roll and how they move and the angles you take, that hasn’t changed.
“That’s the neat thing about this.”
Then there’s his ferocious appetite and iron will to win.
“I love golf. I do. I’ve always loved it. I played other sports growing up, but I just have always loved this sport. I love to compete,” he said.
“And to be able to have the love I have for the game and the love for competition be intertwined, I think that’s one of the reasons why I’ve had a successful career.
“I just love doing the work. I love logging the time in and I love preparing. I love competing, and I love that feeling when everything’s on fire with a chance to win.
“And you either you do or you don’t.”
Full tee times Friday/Saturday NZT
12 a.m./3:06 a.m.: Erik van Rooyen (South Africa), Jake Knapp
12:12 a.m./3:18 a.m.: Jose Maria Olazabal (Spain), Taylor Moore, *Santiago de la Fuente (Mexico)
12:24 a.m./3:30 a.m.: Danny Willett (England), Austin Eckroat, Stephan Jaeger (Germany)
12:36 a.m./3:42 a.m.: Charl Schwartzel (South Africa), Luke List, *Christo Lamprecht (South Africa)
12:48 a.m./3:54 a.m.: Gary Woodland, Thorbjorn Olesen (Denmark), Bryson DeChambeau
1:00 a.m./4:12 a.m.: Zach Johnson, Corey Conners (Canada), *Jasper Stubbs (Australia)
1:12 a.m./4:24 a.m.: Sergio Garcia (Spain), Chris Kirk, Ryan Fox (New Zealand)
1:24 a.m./4:36 a.m.: Lucas Glover, Byeong Hun An (Korea), Harris English
1:36 a.m./4:48 a.m.: Phil Mickelson, Sepp Straka (Austria), Tony Finau
1:48 a.m./5:00 a.m.: Nick Taylor (Canada), Joaquin Niemann (Chile), Russell Henley
2:06 a.m./5:12 a.m.: Patrick Cantlay, Min Woo Lee (Australia), Rickie Fowler
2:18 a.m./5:24 a.m.: Hideki Matsuyama (Japan), Will Zalatoris, Justin Thomas
2:30 a.m./5:36 a.m.: Jon Rahm (Spain), Matt Fitzpatrick (England), Nick Dunlap
2:42 a.m./5:48 a.m.: Scottie Scheffler, Rory McIlroy (Northern Ireland), Xander Schauffele
2:54 a.m./6:00 a.m.: Wyndham Clark, Viktor Hovland (Norway), Cameron Smith (Australia)
3:06 a.m./12:00 a.m.:Lee Hodges, Adrian Meronk (Poland), Grayson Murray
3:18 a.m./12:12 a.m.:Camilo Villegas (Colombia), Denny McCarthy, Cameron Davis (Australia)
3:30 a.m./12:24 a.m.: Mike Weir (Canada), Ryo Hisatsune (Japan), *Neal Shipley
3:42 a.m./12:36 a.m.: Vijay Singh (Fiji), Si Woo Kim (Korea), Emiliano Grillo (Argentina)
3:54 a.m./12:48 a.m.: Fred Couples, Adam Hadwin (Canada), *Stewart Hagestad
4:12 a.m./1:00 a.m.: Justin Rose (England), Eric Cole, Peter Malnati
4:24 a.m./1:12 a.m.: Akshay Bhatia, J. T. Poston, Shane Lowry (Ireland)
4:36 a.m./1:24 a.m.: Bubba Watson, Nicolai Hojgaard (Denmark), Adam Schenk
4:48 a.m./1:36 a.m.: Patrick Reed, Sungjae Im (Korea), Kurt Kitayama
5:00 a.m./1:48 a.m.: Keegan Bradley, Matthieu Pavon, Tyrrell Hatton (England)
5:12 a.m./2:06 a.m.: Adam Scott (Australia), Sam Burns, Cameron Young
5:24 a.m./2:18 a.m.: Tiger Woods, Jason Day (Australia), Max Homa
5:36 a.m./2:30 a.m.: Brian Harman, Brooks Koepka, Tom Kim (Korea)
5:48 a.m./2:42 a.m.: Jordan Spieth, Ludvig Aberg (Sweden), Sahith Theegala
6:00 a.m./2:54 a.m.: Dustin Johnson, Collin Morikawa, Tommy Fleetwood (England)
