Tiger Woods at The Masters live updates: Tourney picks, Tiger practice updates, tee times, latest news, how to watch (2024)

Tiger Woods actually playing in the 2022 Masters has officially morphed from pure intrigue into a set Thursday tee time. Yes, it's remarkable. "As of right now I feel like I am going to play," said Woods yesterday. Woods will play nine more practice holes today, and assuming there are no setbacks, it's go time tomorrow.

How we got here: Woods flew into Augusta and played the course last Tuesday, then again showed up Sunday for another practice round. He was back Monday, and knocked out another practice round with Justin Thomas and Fred Couples. Optimism spiked following the round -- Fred Couples said he was "sure" Woods would be in the field, and described Tiger's game as in fantastic shape. Tuesday, Woods confirmed he plans to play.

Tiger's tee time: His assigned slot: 10:34 AM on Thursday.

The Tiger comeback timeline: Woods' last public appearance was at the 2022 Genesis Invitational, where he said he didn’t know when he was going to play again. Woods has been recovering from a single-car crash in February of 2021 that left him with open fractures in the upper and lower portions of his right leg, and additional injuries to his foot and ankle. Woods, who turned 46 in December, last played at the PNC Championship's father-son event with his son, Charlie, in December 2021. His last official tournament appearance was the 2020 Masters.

What's here and how to watch: We'll have news updates, buzz from the course, and follow Tiger and the rest of the field during the tourney. The Masters will again be televised on ESPN and CBS this year and available to watch on Masters.com.

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(Photo: Gregory Shamus / Getty Images)

Courtesy of the tournament site, here's a spot to look for your favorite.

We'll have more here on the best groups.

News from Augusta National Golf Club chairman Fred Ridley’s press conference:

Augusta National says it did not revoke Phil Mickelson’s exemption or invitation to play in this year’s Masters. Ridley says Mickelson was open to play in this year’s tournament, but reached out to the chairman in late February or early March to say he did not intend to play. Ridley said Mickelson contacted him via a text message and didn’t indicate the two have spoken directly. “He’s a big part of our history and we certainly wish him the best working through his issues right now,” Ridley said.

Ridley did not engage when asked about the potential breakaway Saudi golf league that remains a threat to the PGA Tour. He began by talking about the overall health of the sport, citing growing participation in the game, stable finances for clubs and courses, and purses being offered for professionals. He said Augusta National has “been pretty clear in our belief that the world tours have done a great job in promoting the game over the years.”

On the topic of female membership at Augusta National, which began only 10 years ago, Ridley (as expected) declined to reveal how many women are currently members at the club. “We have a number of female members,” Ridley said. He said, in hindsight, Augusta should’ve allowed female membership much longer ago and added, “We're a better club, better organization and we’re very proud to have women among our membership.”

As for the course, while changes to Nos. 11 and 15 will be seen this week, Ridley said no timetable exits for long-anticipated alterations to No. 13, the famed par-5 that’s had its teeth pulled by the sport’s incredible advances in distance.

Local expert John Hayes is. Among the top drawer picks this week, he thinks Schauffele stands out:

"Xander Schauffele has the type of game that leads to success at Augusta National. The 28-year-old smashes his driver, is an elite ball striker and is on the brink of a major breakthrough in the prime of his career. In fact, it almost happened last year at this very tournament until he dunked the ball in the water on No. 16 in his final round — he ultimately finished T3. In his last six starts Schauffele has four top 25 finishes. And the Olympic gold medal winner knows how to perform under pressure. In this top tier I like the fact that Schauffele might be one of the lesser-owned players, considering other options like Jon Rahm, Dustin Johnson and the red hot and new world No. 1 Scottie Scheffler. If Schauffele plays well, it could really give you an edge vs. other pool participants."

Casual fans might point to 2019 as evidence of what Tiger Woods might achieve this week, but that Tiger was in a healthy, complete ascent. He entered that week ranked sixth on tour in strokes gained total and fourth in greens in regulation. He had just knocked off Rory McIlroy in the round of 16 at the WGC Match Play and was a few months removed from a victorious stroll down the 18th fairway at East Lake. This iteration of Woods hasn’t played anything except the Father-Son Tournament since nearly losing his leg in a horrific car accident 14 months ago.

But this is Tiger Woods, the orchestrator of the impossible. Of course he thinks he can win this week.

Woods said yesterday that he would be playing a 9-hole practice round today and assuming that goes well, he'll be in the field on Thursday. Again, his Thursday tee time is set for 10:34 AM ET.

We'll have updates from the course today regarding the timing of Woods' round, confirmation on his status for Thursday, and anything else we hear.

AUGUSTA, Ga. — If, at exactly 11:11 a.m. Tuesday, you wished for Tiger Woods to walk on stage at Augusta National Golf Club, settle into a chair in front of roughly 150 media members, and announce his intentions to play in the 2022 Masters — a moment so utterly unthinkable at this time a year ago — well, hot damn, it came true.

There he was, the 973rd-ranked golfer in the world.

“As of right now,” he said, “I feel like I am going to play.”

How could this possibly be?

A couple more interesting nuggets from Woods.

Woods’ doctors have told him his pain level will improve as time goes on, but he can’t expect to regain anymore mobility in his leg, ankle and foot. “My movement will probably not get much better,” he said. “I’m so limited with the hardware in there.”

Woods continues to say he won’t play here or anywhere else if he doesn’t feel like he can win. No farewell tours for him, he says. “The fact that I was able to get myself here was a success. Now that I am playing it’s about getting myself onto the back nine Sunday with a chance.”

Tiger was asked what will make a successful week, and he said that it'll be successful if he's in contention on Sunday.

In short, he said earlier that he feels can win, and success will be defined by being in the mix.

This is a confident Woods. Which is certainly not an aberration, but it's clear Tiger feels if he can handle the course from a walking standpoint, he can win.

And again, while Woods didn't say he was certain to play he didn't create any new doubts that he would. He's talking about competing and winning.

"I do," said Tiger.

The more Woods talks this morning, the more it sounds like he’s playing. He said he believes he can win this week. “I can hit it just fine. Walking is the hard part,” he said. “Seventy-two holes is a long road, and it’s a challenge that I’m up for.”

Woods just confirmed he will be in the field if he feels fine after another nine holes tomorrow.

"We've worked hard to get to this point," said Woods.

More to come but this now assumes Woods will be assigned a tee time.

Here is the link via the official Masters website.

More updates to come based on what Tiger says.

Five-time Masters champion Tiger Woods is on the driving range and seems to be in good spirits 40 minutes prior to his scheduled session in Augusta National media room. We don't know if Woods will announce his intentions today, but the club generally announces tee times for the tournament at noon on Tuesday.

So stay tuned.

Yes, drilling the ball picker. Well played.

Tiger will speak within the hour and we'll have more important updates.

Nothing alarming -- it's just raining for much of the day in Augusta. That's a big reason Woods was able to get out on the course each of the last two days, according to multiple reports.

Again, Woods will be talking at 11 ET this morning and addressing his playing status.

Tiger Woods is scheduled for a press conference at 11 AM (ET) today, so we'll soon know a lot more about his playing status for Thursday.

Generally speaking everything seems to be on track for Tiger to play. Fred Couples, who played a practice round with Woods on Monday afternoon, said Tiger looks great, is "bombing" the ball off the tee, and Couples even went as far as to say he was "sure" Tiger would play barring any setbacks.

So we wait -- but not long!