Tiger Woods’ Masters fortunes have been drastically contrasting over the last 24 hours, with him shooting his worst round at Augusta National on Saturday.
The 16-time major winner made history on Friday at the historic Georgia course, surpassing fellow golf great Fred Couples and Gary Player for the all-time record of 24 consecutive Masters cuts.
That incredible feat was accomplished despite the 48-year-old playing in only his second tournament of the year after his long-awaited PGA Tour return in February resulted in an early withdrawal from the Genesis Invitational, forcing him to play a total of 23 holes on the day after bad weather delayed the start of round one on Thursday.
Woods, who won four Masters titles between 1997 and 2005 before winning another in unforgettable fashion in 2019, finished with a 63 in the first round before shooting one better in the second to easily make the cut and head into the weekend at one-over par, seven shots behind the midway leader.
That raised the question of whether he could still play his way into contention in a potential replay of his fairytale 2019 charge, but what happened on Saturday was the worst round in Woods’ long and illustrious Masters career.
The American, who appeared to be laboring around the course at times, finished with a 10-over 82, which included eight bogeys and back-to-back double bogeys on holes seven and eight.
Not only was it Woods’ worst round at the Masters, surpassing his back-to-back 78s in 2022, but it was also the worst 18-hole round he has ever had at any major championship, according to the PGA.
His previous low score was an 81 in the third round of The Open at Muirfield in 2002, when he was attempting to complete a Grand Slam after winning the Masters and the US Open that year.
The only other occasion Woods shot 80 in a round in a major was at the 2015 US Open at Chambers Bay, where he missed the cut at 16 over par.
