Tiger

Woods

Cantlay cut ties with Matt Minister after the Zurich Classic. With Tiger Woods shutting it down for surgery, LaCava was a free agent and Woods gave the blessing for him to join forces with Cantlay. “On the bag for @patrick_cantlay this week at the @WellsFargoGolf and for the foreseeable future is Joe Lacava who got the blessing from friend and former boss @TigerWoods to make the move to Cantlay. This is not a one off but a full time move for Lacava.” Cantlay has played alongside LaCava in the past on a fill-in basis but this will likely be a permanent agreement if they mesh well over the next few months.

The statement said that he had a subtalar fusion procedure to “address his post-traumatic arthritis from his previous talus fracture” related to the injuries he suffered in a 2021 car crash. The subtalar joint is located just below the ankle joint. Woods withdrew before the final day of the Masters, earlier this month. Faced with more than 28 holes to complete his third and final rounds, after making the cut amid rainy, cold conditions, Woods cited a flareup of his plantar fasciitis in the WD. No timetable for a return was mentioned in Wednesday’s announcement.

Woods made the cut this week but won’t be able to go extra holes in one day. His caddie, Joe LaCava, laid out this exact scenario before the start of the week and said his boss would not be able to handle that many holes in one day. “I can’t imagine him trying to go 27-plus holes around here. He’s pretty banged up. If it wasn’t Augusta he probably wouldn’t be playing.” Weather delays put him in that scenario so he will back out for his leg’s sake.

Woods split 10-of-14 fairways and landed 13 greens in regulation. It wasn’t the worst ball-striking day but also not one of his best. From there, he struggled with the flat stick, failing to find any momentum. “I didn’t have very good speed early. I had two three-putts, and consequently I’m a couple over par. I didn’t hit my irons close enough today. I didn’t give myself very good looks. Need to do a better job of that going forward to hopefully get myself back in this tournament.” Woods is currently nine offs off the pace of one of his playing partners, Viktor Hovland. Woods entered the week with a 23-for-24 record at Augusta National and he’ll likely need to shoot par or better tomorrow to have a chance of making it 24-for-25.

The five-time Masters champ has won this event as recently as 2009 but really just happy to be playing at all these days. “I don’t know how many more I have in me. So just to be able to appreciate the time that I have here and cherish the memories.” Speaking on last year’s 47th-place finish at the Masters, “I didn’t win the tournament, but for me to be able to come back and play was a small victory in itself.” His lone prep start this year was a T45 at the Genesis Invitational.

Woods arrived as a major wildcard without much competitive action in the last few years. He exceeded all expectations with a pair of sub-70 rounds while also settling for a 74 on Friday and 73 today. While this was a relatively positive result for Woods, gamers shouldn’t get used to seeing Woods on a weekly basis. “Like I told you guys last year, I’m not going to play any more than probably the majors and maybe a couple more. That’s it, that’s all my body will allow me to do. My back the way it is, all the surgeries I had on my back, my leg the way it is, I just can’t. That’s just going to be my future.” It’s very possible we don’t see Woods for the next six weeks leading up to the Masters.

Woods bogeyed his final two holes in the second round at Riviera Country Club to shoot 3-over 74. He finished his day at 1 over, one outside the projected cut line at the Genesis Invitational. It was a mighty struggle for Woods with his putter. His strokes gained: putting stats showed him as -2.036 in relation to the field on Friday, when he missed five putts inside of 10 feet.

The tournament host was a major wildcard entering the week, having not played an official, non-major event since the fall of 2020. He exceeded all expectations today as he traded two birdies with three bogeys on the opening 15 holes then finished with a three-hold birdie train, with a notable 23'7" birdie splash at the par-5 17th. He had a comfortable pairing alongside buddies Rory McIlroy and Justin Thomas “It was a great round. The ebb and flow of needling each other, encouraging each other and telling stories. Because I hadn’t been out here so I’ve missed some of the things that have transpired on Tour, which is kind of fun.” He’ll do a lot of icing tonight to prep for a morning tee time on Friday.

Woods hasn’t played a non-major PGA TOUR event since the ZOZO in October 2020. He hasn’t twirled a top-35 finish since the 2020 Farmers Insurance Open. With that out of the weigh, gamers should be managing their expectations when watching a potentially rusty Woods this week at Riviera Country Club. The 47-year-old still has lofty expectations for himself, though, “I would not have put myself out here if I didn’t think I could beat these guys and win the event. That’s my mentality. If I wasn’t ready to win at this level, I am very rusty, but I’ve come off a rusty situation before around I’ve done well and I’ve had to utilize a lot of those tactics in practice in build up, plus also I know this golf course. I know I haven’t had a lot of success on this golf course, but I knew what to practice for, shots to hit at home getting ready.” Woods is sitting around 150/1 in the pre-tournament outright betting markets.