Tiger Woods officially going to play in The Masters next week

Tiger Woods will be playing in The Masters

Golf fans stand up and start cheering because Tiger Woods has officially announced that he is going to play in the first PGA Tour major of the season next week, the Masters at Augusta National.

Here’s the short, to the point announcement on his website published Friday afternoon:

"“I’m playing in the Masters,” Tiger said Friday afternoon. “It’s obviously very important to me, and I want to be there.“I’ve worked a lot on my game and I’m looking forward to competing. I’m excited to get to Augusta and I appreciate everyone’s support.”"

Everyone was biting their nails waiting for Tiger to make a decision on whether his golf game was tournament ready enough to play in the Masters this season after Woods took a leave of absence in February following a withdrawal from the Farmers Insurance Open due to his nagging back problems.

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The 38-year-old already golf legend has played in just two PGA Tour event this season and he missed the cut in the Phoenix Open and followed it up with the withdrawal at the Farmers Insurance.

After Woods opted not to play in the Arnold Palmer Invitational in March, people wondered if he would come back for the best golf tournament of the season at Augusta in April and Tiger was patient and kept to himself about whether he would be returning or not. After Tiger appeared in Augusta and has reportedly been playing practice rounds this week, he decided he’s ready to give it a go. Woods reportedly finished with a 2-over 74 in his first practice round, according to Golfweek.

In 2014, Woods missed the Masters due to injury, but in 2013, he finished T-5 with a 5-under par score. Woods has been a consistent contender at the Masters throughout his career and has a dominant history at Augusta National. He’s won the major tournament four times, but not since 2005. In 1997, Woods set records at Augusta National by becoming the youngest player to ever win the Masters (21), the first non-white golfer to win the Masters and he set the tournament record for his four day score of 18-under which defeated Tom Kite in second place by 12 strokes.

Tiger Woods is far and away the best thing that’s ever happened to the game of golf. When you cheer on Tiger, you also cheer on the sport as he is responsible for much of the growth in the sport in the last 20 years. Many think that Tiger is nearing the end of his career at 38 and because he hasn’t won a major tournament since 2008, but don’t be surprised if Woods bounces back next week at Augusta and surprises everyone. He may not finish on top, but you can expect he’ll be competing hard as he tries to find himself at the iconic Augusta National.

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