Tiger Woods’ Masters week plans and possible preparations (plus 4 other insights)

Tiger Woods will be at Augusta National in seven weeks. That much we know.

The only question that remains is: Will it be the 15-time major champion at the Masters or will it just see Rory McIlroy defend his title?

In his pre-tournament press conference as host of the Genesis Invitational, Woods teased that Masters wit wasn’t off the table for him, but he wouldn’t elaborate on what that would mean or how he would structure his preparation if he felt his body and game were ready to bounce back.

On Saturday, Woods joined the CBS broadcast booth during the third round and deftly sidestepped a question from Jim Nantz. As CBS ran a promo for the Masters, Nantz mentioned McIlroy and Scottie Scheffler before asking Woods if he knew anyone else who would be playing at Augusta National in 50 days.

“I know I’ll be there,” Woods said. “We will open Patch. (Trevor Immelman) and I will be part of a wonderful dinner. I know a lot of people who play.”

But is it a real possibility that Woods will make it to this year’s Masters?

“There is,” Woods said with a smile.

What pre-tournament preparation would look like is still up in the air, with Woods touting a host of options ahead of the Masters, including his PGA Champions Tour debut.

“I don’t know,” Woods said when asked if he would play a tournament before the Masters if he decides to return. “I don’t know if it’s the regular (PGA) tour, the senior tour or the member-guest.”

Woods, who has not played since the 2024 Open, is still rehabbing from mid-disc replacement surgery he had in October. He said he has progressed in full swing but is not at the level where he can return to competitive play. This is a work in progress.

“It’s just one of those things where every day, I keep trying, keep improving, keep working at it, trying to get stronger, trying to get more endurance in this body and trying to get it to a level where I can play at the highest level again,” Woods said during his pre-tournament press conference.

When leader Jacob Bridgeman hit a 7-wood for eagle in two feet for an eagle putt. Riviera On the par-5 11th, Woods joked that he hasn’t “hit it like that” yet.

“I wish I could be out there this week playing with these guys. Watching these kids play this golf course is a lot of fun,” Woods said.

Here’s what else we learned from Woods’ time in the CBS booth.

1. Tiger’s motivation for leading the FCC

New PGA Tour CEO Brian Rolapp has praised Woods for his willingness to serve as chair of the Future Races Committee to help shape the future of the PGA Tour.

The 15-time major champion and 82-time PGA Tour winner has a chance to write the final chapter of his enduring legacy by helping rewrite what the PGA Tour looks like. This has involved, according to Woods, countless meetings and long nights of “free ideas” as he and the rest of the board try to determine the future.

For Woods, now 50, it was important that he, like Arnold Palmer and Jack Nicklaus before him, play a role in improving the tour that has given him so much and ensuring that the next wave of stars has a tour in which they can succeed.

“Well, Jack and Arnold actually created the PGA Tour when we broke away,” Woods told Nantz when asked why it was important to him to help reshape the tour. “We were at a very difficult time when I came on board and I tried to reshape the Tour and get it to where our Tour had the best players in the world playing here. It was a difficult time. We’ve gotten over the hump, we’ve got a certain momentum and now we have to keep that momentum.

Trevor Immelman asked Woods how he went from focusing on winning and setting records to now focusing on improving the PGA Tour for the future. Woods reflected on his PGA Tour debut as a 16-year-old amateur at the LA Open and noted that it is important to him that he leaves the Tour better than he found it.

“I’m lonely in a different way,” Woods said. “I’m all for that little kid who broke in 1992 at the LA Open. I’m all for the opportunity for them to play the PGA Tour. The PGA Tour gave me an opportunity. I’m trying to give the next generation the same opportunity.

“We want to continue to elevate our tournament to be even better than it is now.”

Restructuring the PGA Tour schedule is a big part of the FCC’s mandate. Woods said he has spoken with CEOs and CFOs from each tour sponsor, as well as the PGA Tour’s media partners, and all are willing to move things along as needed. It is hoped that many of the changes will come into effect in 2027.

2. Tiger in Rory’s Grand Slam, chance to repeat at Masters

Forward McIlroy’s thrilling 2025 Masters winWoods was the last man to complete a career Grand Slam. He completed his career Grand Slam at the age of 24 when he won the 2000 St. Louis Open. Andrews.

It took much longer for McIlroy. The Northern Irishman saw the injuries pile up as his more than decade-long drought continued, but Woods always felt he would triumph at Augusta National.

“I was lucky. I was able to get my way when I was young,” Woods told Nantz and Immelman to watch McIlroy’s moment. “Rory’s situation was, he had so many different opportunities and we always thought that out of all the places he was going to win it would be Augusta National. The last time he had an opportunity there it was a tough situation. He learned from it. We always thought he was going to make it. But as the years go by it gets harder and harder. But eventually he made it.

McIlroy will return to Augusta as the defending champion, looking to join Woods, Nicklaus and Nick Faldo as the only players to successfully repeat at the Masters. Woods knows it’s a tall order, but he also knows that winning at Augusta gives you the confidence that you can do it again. McIlroy now has it.

“It’s not easy,” Woods said. “But once you’ve done it, you know you can win and you know what it takes to do it.”

3. Tiger’s ‘nervous shot’

The Genesis Invitational, which Woods now hosts, holds a special place in the 15-time major winner’s heart. With Woods in the booth for nearly an hour, CBS took the opportunity to play a clip from Woods’ debut at the 1992 LA Open, where a 16-year-old Woods cruised past Sam Snead.

“I was playing pro-am there and that was one of the most nerve-racking shots I’ve ever hit,” Woods said. “Seeing the great Sam Snead right behind me, just staring right at me.”

Woods would go on to tie Snead’s record of 82 PGA Tour victories, adding to the importance the Southern California event holds for Woods.

“The synergy of this place and the things that have happened in my life, you can’t imagine,” Woods said.

4. Woods’ tip to tame the Riviera greens

The greens at Riviera Country Club have provided the best matches this week. The Los Angeles area got a good amount of rain earlier in the week, which has softened them without losing much speed.

Collin Morikawa said they were “hitting and hoping” for the greens after Thursday’s first round. On Saturday, Woods explained how the blend of soft but fast Poa annua greens can play mind tricks.

“You get some interesting pitches here with their speed,” Woods said. “But you don’t equate soft greens with fast greens. So the mentality is, ‘Oh, my 5-wood is resting on the green or my 4-iron is resting,’ but then having to drop a putt is so mentally tough.”

For Woods, the key is to commit to your speed and eliminate the “pinko board” effect that can occur on bumpy Poa greens.

“Downhill shots, obviously, you’re going to drip. But if I’m putting uphill, I’m drinking it,” Woods said. “It’s the commitment to the fact that if you have an uphill putt or a flat putt, I don’t mind going back two or three feet. But I don’t – the greens have that plinko effect and that can happen if you’re not committed to your speed, so any time I get a chance to rip one to the back of the hole, I’ll do it.”