Tiger Woods Still a Winner With Masters Return Despite Not Actually Winning

By Ashley Turner

Despite losing this year's Masters, Tiger Woods has said he considers his recent performance in the tournament one of the greatest accomplishments of his career. Woods finished with his worst score in a Masters round –13 over for the week, and a total of 301, shooting a 6-over par 78 on Sunday in the final round.  

The decorated player, who has won 15 major titles, announced his return to the sport after suffering severe leg injuries in a car crash in 2021. Woods was involved in a single-car accident in Southern California on February 23. Since then, he has been recovering from severe injuries to his right leg and foot. Woods said that he was at risk of losing his leg while hospitalized. His recovery after the car crash included surgery to place a rod and pins in his right leg and excruciating physical rehabilitation.

Despite walking with a noticeable limp in the final round as the Augusta National Golf Club course began to take its toll when asked if Woods thought the week was one of the greatest achievements of his career, he said: "For not winning an event, yes." "To go from where I was to get to this point, I've had an incredible team that has helped me get to this point and incredible support from -- as I alluded to in the press conference on Tuesday, the amount of texts and FaceTimes and calls I got from players that are close to me throughout this entire time has meant a lot," CNN reported. 

"Then to come here on these grounds and have the patrons -- I played in a Covid year, and then I didn't play last year," he continued. "2019 was the last time for me that I experienced having the patrons like this, and it's exciting. It's inspiring. It's fun to hear the roars, to hear the hole-in-ones. I think Kitchen made one the other day. To hear that roar down there at the bottom on 16, just to hear that excitement of what this tournament brings out."

Woods later confirmed that he will play at the July 150th Open Championship at St. Andrews, Scotland. Woods said he was still undecided about playing in the PGA Championship in Tulsa, Oklahoma, taking place in May. 

In November 2021, Woods opened up about the future of his golf career following the car accident in an interview with Golf Digest. He said he didn't expect to return to golf full-time but planned to come back to play in a few events per year. "I think something that is realistic is playing the tour one day—never full time, ever again—but pick and choose, just like Mr. [Ben] Hogan did. Pick and choose a few events a year and you play around that," Woods told Golf Digest. "You practice around that, and you gear yourself up for that. I think that's how I'm going to have to play it from now on. It's an unfortunate reality, but it's my reality. And I understand it, and I accept it."  

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