Tiger Woods’ Masters weekly plans and possible preparation (plus 4 other insights)

Tiger Woods will be at Augusta National in seven weeks. We know that much.

The only question remaining is: will the 15-time Major champion make the start at the Masters or just watch as Rory McIlroy defends his title?

During his pre-tournament press conference hosting the Genesis Invitational, Woods teased that the Masters was off the table for him, but wouldn’t elaborate on what that meant or how he would structure his preparation when he felt his body and game were ready to return.

On Saturday, Woods joined the CBS broadcast booth during the third round and artfully sidestepped a question from Jim Nantz. As CBS released 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’re going to open The Patch. [Trevor Immelman] and I’m going to be part of a great dinner. I know a lot of people who play.”

But is it a real possibility that Woods will finish at this year’s Masters?

“It is,” Woods said, smiling.

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

“I don’t know,” Woods said when asked if he would play a tournament before the Masters if he decided to return. “Whether it is regularly [PGA] Tour, senior Tour or member guest, I don’t know.”

Woods, who has not played competitively since the 2024 Open Champions, is still recovering from lumbar intervertebral surgery he underwent in October. He said he has made progress in hitting complete shots, but is not yet at the level where he can return to competitive play. That’s a work in progress.

“It’s just one of those things where I just keep trying every day, keep progressing, keep working on 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 at two feet for a tap-in eagle on Riviera’s par-5 11th, Woods joked that he hasn’t “hit it like that yet.”

“I wish I could play with these guys this week. It’s pretty fun to watch these kids play on this golf course,” Woods said.

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

1. Tiger’s motivation to lead FCC

Brian Rolapp, the PGA Tour’s new CEO, has praised Woods for his willingness to serve as chairman of the Future Competitions Committee to help shape the future of the PGA Tour.

The 15-time Major champion and 82-time PGA Tour winner will have the opportunity to write the final chapter of his lasting legacy by helping rewrite what the PGA Tour looks like. That included, according to Woods, countless meetings and long nights of “free-flowing ideas” as he and the rest of the board tried to map out the future.

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

“Well, Jack and Arnold basically created the PGA Tour when we stopped,” Woods told Nantz when asked why it was important to him to reshape the Tour. “We were going through a really tough time when I came on the board trying to reshape the Tour and get to the point where our Tour had the best players in the world playing here. It was a tough time. We’ve gotten over the hump, we’ve got some momentum and now we have to keep that momentum going. I’m part of being chairman of the FCC and creating that momentum and taking it into the next generation, starting in 2027.”

Trevor Immelman asked Woods how he has evolved from his focus on winning and setting records to improving the PGA Tour for the future. Woods reflected on his PGA Tour debut as a 16-year-old amateur at the LA Open, noting that it is important for him to leave the Tour better than he found it.

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

“We want to keep improving our Tour so that it can 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 to the CEOs and CFOs of each tournament sponsor, as well as the PGA Tour’s media partners, and they are all willing to make changes if necessary. The hope is that many of the changes will come into effect in 2027.

2. Tiger at Rory’s Grand Slam, chances of repeating at the Masters

Before McIlroy’s thrilling Masters win in 2025, Woods was the last man to complete a career Grand Slam. He completed the Grand Slam career at the age of 24, when he won the Open Championship in St. Andrews in 2000.

It took much longer for McIlroy. The Northern Irishman watched the scars pile up as his decade-plus drought continued, but Woods always felt he would triumph at Augusta National.

“I was lucky. I was able to get mine out of the way when I was young,” Woods told Nantz and Immelman about watching McIlroy’s moment. “Rory’s situation was that he had so many different opportunities and we always thought that of all the places he would win it would be Augusta National. The last time he had an opportunity there, it was a difficult situation. He learned from it. We always thought he would get it done. But as the years go by, it becomes more and more difficult. But in the end he got it done. It was a big moment to see him become a Grand Slam champion in his career.”

McIlroy returns to Augusta as the defending champion and looks to join Woods, Nicklaus and Nick Faldo as the only players to successfully repeat at the Masters. Woods understands it’s a tough task, but he also knows that winning at Augusta gives you the confidence that you can do it again. McIlroy has that now.

“It’s not easy,” Woods said. “But once you do it, you understand that you can win and you know what it takes to make it happen.”

3. Tiger’s ‘most nerve-wracking tee shot’

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

“I played the pro-am there and that was one of the most nerve-wracking tee shots I’ve ever hit,” Woods said. “To see the big Sam Snead right behind me, staring straight into me.”

Woods would tie Snead’s record of 82 PGA Tour victories, increasing the importance of the Southern California event for Woods.

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

4. Woods’ advice for taming Riviera’s greens

The greens at Riviera Country Club have produced some of the best results of the game this week. The Los Angeles area saw quite a bit of rain early in the week, softening conditions without losing much speed.

Collin Morikawa said it was hit and hope greens after Thursday’s first round. On Saturday, Woods explained how the mix of gentle but fast Poa annua vegetables can play brain tricks.

“You get some interesting putts here with how fast they are,” Woods said. “But you don’t equate soft greens with fast greens. So that mentality is, ‘Oh, my 5-wood is going backwards on the green or my 4-iron is going backwards,’ but to then have to trickle in a putt is so mentally difficult.”

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

“The downhill putts you’re obviously going to drip. But when I putt uphill, I smell it,” Woods said. “It’s the fact that if you have an uphill putt or a flat putt, I don’t mind if it comes back two or three feet. But I don’t want to – the greens have that plinko effect and that can happen if you happen to not be committed to your speed, so anytime I have a chance to rip one into the back of the hole, I would.”