Tiger Woods scouting Augusta National Golf Club ahead of The Masters

With The Masters just over a week away, fans have been eyeing if Tiger Woods will return. A visit to Augusta National Golf Club will give us answers.

Despite all of the terrific golf being played around the world right now with The Masters beginning in just nine days, there is one topic that is on the mind of every fan: Tiger Woods.

His name was noticeably not listed among the past champions not playing at Augusta National Golf Club that was released a couple of weeks ago and that led to the rumor mill starting to swirl. It started with reports that he was walking, caddie in tow, at Medalist in Florida, which many took to mean preparation for The Masters.

On Tuesday, though, things reached a fever pitch. It started with rumblings that Woods could be visiting Augusta National Golf Club for a walking round around the course. That led to a full college football-style plane tracker.

And then came the confirmation. Tiger Woods’ plane touched down in Augusta and he plans to play a practice round at the course where the best in the world will vie for the Green Jacket next week.

Tiger Woods Masters return? Will The Cat be back at Augusta?

Woods flying to Augusta to walk the course on Tuesday is an obvious sign that the recently inducted Hall-of-Famer is working and heavily considering playing at The Masters. However, we shouldn’t expect that decision to come on the same day as his round at the historic venue.

As noted by Daniel Rapaport of Golf Digest, going through the full array of what he’d need to for a tournament round, Tiger likely won’t know what he needs to until Wednesday when he can see how the walk around the course affects his surgically repaired leg and back that he’s been recovering from.

Back at The Genesis Invitational, Woods spoke about his recovery and potential return and noted that walking the course was a concern for him at that point. When he played at the PNC Championship alongside his son, Charlie, he was in a cart, meaning that he didn’t have to test that aspect. His swing, however, looked quite good at the time.

But now he’s testing the walking part, which is certainly something to monitor at Augusta National Golf Club, a notoriously hilly and difficult walk, particularly for someone making the recovery that Woods is after his car accident in 2021.

So the short answer is that we don’t know if Tiger Woods will make his return at The Masters. What we can say given the events of Tuesday, however, is that he’s trying to do just that.

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