It's Time To Stop Thinking Tiger Woods Can Win A Major Championship Ever Again
Doubting Tiger Woods has never been a great idea. For well over two decades, downplaying Woods' abilities and greatness at anytime on any golf course in the world left anyone that did so looking foolish beyond belief.
That version of Tiger Woods, however, the one most wouldn't ever dare count out, ceases to exist.
He managed to write his own Cinderella story in 2019 when he was able to overcome all adversity and somehow, someway, win the Masters and slip on the green jacket for a fifth time. That moment, on top of an often-forgotten-about win at the ZOZO Championship six months later, created something we can now comfortably call false hope.
Fast-forward five years to the 2024 Masters, and that image of Woods throwing his hands into the air on the 72nd hole securing his 15th major championship feels like it was 30 years ago instead of just half-a-decade in the past.
(Photo by Andrew Redington/Getty Images)
While it may feel shocking to even think, let alone admit, that Woods' ability to compete and win in major championships no longer exists, the uncomfortable struggle the golf world has witnessed over the last handful of years shouldn't come as a surprise.
Woods was never going to ride off into the sunset. He will battle for as long as his put-back-together body allows it and his brain tells him that he still has a fighting chance to win at the highest-level the sport has to offer.
Unfortunately, Father Time is undefeated, and he's never had a more-noticeable presence with Woods than he did across the final 36 holes of this year's Masters.
Heading into the week, there were two logical expectations for Woods, one a positive and the other a negative, and the 48-year-old managed to meet them both.
As most predicted, Woods was able to make his record-setting 24th straight cut at the Masters and began his third round a very respectable seven shots off the lead. Woods' body holding up for 36 holes wasn't a surprise, nor was the fact that it let him down over the weekend.
Woods hit his golf ball 82 times during Saturday's third round, leaving him tied for the highest score of the day. The wheels officially started coming off on the Par 3 sixth hole where he made bogey before playing the final three holes on the opening nine at five over par. Tyrrell Hatton, Woods' playing partner in the third round, bested him by nine shots.
Saturday's third round was Woods' 99th at the Masters, and his 82 was the highest score he'd ever posted in the tournament.
(Photo by Andrew Redington/Getty Images)
Sunday then presented Woods with a unique opportunity as he was paired with Neal Shipley, the lone amateur in the field that managed to make the cut. During their four hours together on Sunday, Woods was the one who looked like the amateur, with Shipley posting a 73 on Sunday, four shots better than the man who has won five times at Augusta National.
Shipley is a Top 75 ranked amateur in the world, a highly-decorated player, and 20-plus years younger than Woods, but watching him plot his way around the course while Woods simultaneously hurt and struggled was eye-opening. Woods losing to a graduate student at Augusta National isn't something many would have predicted.
All of this brings us back to what we've seen unfold during Masters week with Tiger as being inevitable. The moment of realization that Woods could no longer truly compete at the major championship level was going to present itself sooner rather than later, and it just so happened to be the 2024 Masters.
This year's Masters marked Woods' seventh official start since April 2022. During that stretch he's been forced to withdraw on three occasions, miss one cut, and will now likely finish dead last among players that made the cut at Augusta National this year.
For as much as the golf world may want to see him find the magic for just one more four-day stretch and contend with players who seem to only be getting younger while he's getting older, that window of opportunity slammed shut this weekend.