Tiger Woods may not have given up hope for the Masters yet.
The five-time Augusta champ remains on the field list and was not on the reported group of past champions who were sitting out.
Golf Channel’s Todd Lewis has now added more fuel to fans’ hopes that Woods could play in the Masters, which tees off on April 7 — just nine days from now.
“This is a critical week for (Woods) to see if his body can sustain 72 holes at Augusta National. He will exhaust every effort to play The Masters,” Lewis tweeted on Monday.
Then on Tuesday, TW Legion — a Woods-focused Twitter account — showed purported footage of Woods landing in Augusta Regional Airport. The report claims that Woods is there to scout the course and “further evaluate his body and game on tournament grounds.”
Woods has not played a traditional PGA Tour event since suffering significant leg injuries in late Feb. 2021. He did tee it up with his son Charlie at the PNC Championship, with the two in contention on Sunday, though Woods was able to use a cart for that event.
Video emerged of Woods practicing at The Medalist golf club on Sunday, though it is unclear what that practice session consisted of. He has looked strong in videos that he has posted of himself swinging, but the bigger concern seems to be his ability to walk the 7,000-plus yards of a course.
Woods has spoken with caution when asked about potential returns to a PGA Tour event.
“I don’t know,” Woods said in a February interview with Jim Nantz at Riviera. “I can hit balls. The hard part is actually walking; that’s going to take some time. I’m going to have to put in the time and effort at home and do all the beach walks and walk golf courses.