Dubai Telegraph - Tiger's fight to play in Masters excites Augusta National

EUR -
AED 3.846682
AFN 76.521468
ALL 98.693297
AMD 417.008071
ANG 1.880737
AOA 957.74059
ARS 1106.226981
AUD 1.646217
AWG 1.885123
AZN 1.782273
BAM 1.949759
BBD 2.107072
BDT 126.797171
BGN 1.953212
BHD 0.39473
BIF 3089.967986
BMD 1.04729
BND 1.400136
BOB 7.210661
BRL 5.973533
BSD 1.043547
BTN 90.47171
BWP 14.394131
BYN 3.415154
BYR 20526.891799
BZD 2.096206
CAD 1.486205
CDF 3001.533913
CHF 0.943054
CLF 0.025704
CLP 986.380088
CNY 7.597012
CNH 7.602166
COP 4320.240458
CRC 529.150538
CUC 1.04729
CUP 27.753196
CVE 109.924444
CZK 25.054435
DJF 185.834268
DKK 7.459315
DOP 64.867795
DZD 140.96619
EGP 53.035204
ERN 15.709356
ETB 133.664343
FJD 2.404893
FKP 0.841659
GBP 0.831648
GEL 2.958578
GGP 0.841659
GHS 16.123049
GIP 0.841659
GMD 74.884705
GNF 9021.877104
GTQ 8.056042
GYD 218.333582
HKD 8.148741
HNL 26.60407
HRK 7.566753
HTG 136.545665
HUF 402.431987
IDR 17009.305175
ILS 3.721725
IMP 0.841659
INR 90.96348
IQD 1367.064708
IRR 44077.833205
ISK 147.081518
JEP 0.841659
JMD 164.78633
JOD 0.743051
JPY 158.962996
KES 135.257823
KGS 91.585381
KHR 4178.055998
KMF 490.767366
KPW 942.655678
KRW 1511.564327
KWD 0.323173
KYD 0.869606
KZT 518.832609
LAK 22679.736089
LBP 93449.400559
LKR 308.414503
LRD 208.194993
LSL 19.175592
LTL 3.092376
LVL 0.633496
LYD 5.120137
MAD 10.418522
MDL 19.514542
MGA 4915.676906
MKD 61.524155
MMK 3401.55836
MNT 3624.831151
MOP 8.36648
MRU 41.543501
MUR 48.509032
MVR 16.126343
MWK 1809.359883
MXN 21.330581
MYR 4.641611
MZN 66.913708
NAD 19.175592
NGN 1581.209626
NIO 38.400299
NOK 11.655164
NPR 144.751781
NZD 1.826632
OMR 0.40322
PAB 1.043567
PEN 3.877188
PGK 4.196917
PHP 60.771643
PKR 291.29506
PLN 4.163001
PYG 8222.525858
QAR 3.804414
RON 4.976408
RSD 117.096542
RUB 95.620819
RWF 1464.136011
SAR 3.92797
SBD 8.831503
SCR 15.070344
SDG 629.421942
SEK 11.21748
SGD 1.405197
SHP 0.862535
SLE 23.825878
SLL 21961.161904
SOS 596.341092
SRD 36.888749
STD 21676.796766
SVC 9.130712
SYP 13617.933852
SZL 19.171422
THB 35.343938
TJS 11.390511
TMT 3.665516
TND 3.304163
TOP 2.452859
TRY 37.941074
TTD 7.082059
TWD 34.282949
TZS 2722.954732
UAH 43.42374
UGX 3840.103007
USD 1.04729
UYU 45.329565
UZS 13558.992991
VES 64.924586
VND 26679.722887
VUV 129.51133
WST 2.971549
XAF 653.918612
XAG 0.032313
XAU 0.000361
XCD 2.830354
XDR 0.799009
XOF 653.918612
XPF 119.331742
YER 259.727812
ZAR 19.314884
ZMK 9426.868239
ZMW 29.402907
ZWL 337.227081
  • NGG

    -0.5400

    60.73

    -0.89%

  • GSK

    -0.3800

    36.17

    -1.05%

  • AZN

    -0.8700

    73.58

    -1.18%

  • RYCEF

    0.0200

    7.84

    +0.26%

  • VOD

    -0.0700

    8.36

    -0.84%

  • RELX

    -0.8400

    51.07

    -1.64%

  • BTI

    -0.7900

    38.82

    -2.04%

  • RBGPF

    63.5700

    63.57

    +100%

  • CMSC

    0.0900

    23.5

    +0.38%

  • BP

    0.5100

    35

    +1.46%

  • RIO

    0.0700

    63.36

    +0.11%

  • SCS

    -0.0700

    12.35

    -0.57%

  • BCE

    0.1900

    23.82

    +0.8%

  • BCC

    1.0300

    121.63

    +0.85%

  • CMSD

    0.1872

    23.69

    +0.79%

  • JRI

    0.0435

    12.83

    +0.34%

Tiger's fight to play in Masters excites Augusta National
Tiger's fight to play in Masters excites Augusta National

Tiger's fight to play in Masters excites Augusta National

Tiger Woods and the possibility of him making an incredible comeback heightened excitement at Augusta National on Monday as the first official practice rounds began for the 86th Masters.

Text size:

A quarter-century after Woods won his first major title by an astonishing 12 strokes at Augusta National and launched "Tigermania", the 15-time major champion is again electrifying the atmosphere at the famed course.

Woods suffered severe right leg injuries 14 months ago in a car crash, was hospitalized for weeks and unable to walk for months.

After using a cart while playing alongside son Charlie in an event last December, Woods tested his fitness to walk the hilly course last Tuesday with an 18-hole practice round at Augusta National alongside Charlie and friend Justin Thomas.

Woods had given no timetable for his return to competition, but the move hinted he felt his game was ready to contend for a sixth green jacket, which would match the career record set by Jack Nicklaus.

Woods wouldn't commit to playing even as his confirmed Sunday he would practice more.

"It will be a game-time decision on whether I compete," Woods tweeted.

That possibility and the chance to see Woods helped draw a full crowd of spectators to Augusta National on Monday for the first time since Woods won the 2019 Masters, patrons having been barred in 2020 and allowed only in limited numbers last year due to Covid-19.

With storms in the forecast for Tuesday and Wednesday, Monday could mark the last opportunity for Woods and other players to test themselves over the 7,510-yard, par-72 layout.

Woods played a back-nine practice round on Sunday afternoon, with some highlights of the two-hour session being tweeted out by the Masters.

Woods greeted other players and some familiar club faces during the round, according to the Masters website. He played alongside Australian Cameron Davis over the last five holes.

The 46-year-old superstar has not played an official tournament since defending his title at the 2020 Masters, played in November due to Covid-19.

"The competitive juices, they are never going to go away," Woods said last December.

Woods has already made an extraordinary comeback effort at the Masters, having won the 2019 crown for his first major triumph since 2008 after spinal fusion surgery.

Following his Southern California automobile accident, Woods has said he is lucky to be alive and not to have had his right leg amputated.

"When I had my back fusion, I didn't know if I could ever be out here again," Woods said in December. "This was a totally different deal. This was whether or not I would have a prosthetic or not, and I don't."

- Oldest Masters winner? -

Should Woods play and manage a fairy-tale triumph on Sunday, he would become the oldest Masters winner and third-oldest major champion in golf history, trailing only last year's PGA Championship victory at age 50 by Phil Mickelson and Julius Boros, who won the 1968 PGA at age 48.

At 46 years, three months and 11 days, Woods would be a day older than Old Tom Morris when he won the 1867 British Open and three weeks older than Nicklaus when he won the 1986 Masters.

Mickelson will miss the Masters for the first time since 1994, saying he needed time away from golf after the revealing of controversial remarks regarding a planned Saudi-backed PGA rival circuit.

Among those testing themselves over the weekend at Augusta National was defending champion Hideki Matsuyama, who withdrew from last week's PGA Texas Open with a neck injury.

Matusyama, the first Japanese man to win a major title and the first Asian-born player to win the Masters, has battled back issues that kept him out of the WGC Match Play and forced him out of the Players Championship last month.

The only players to win back-to-back Masters titles are Woods, Nicklaus and Nick Faldo.

Y.I.Hashem--DT