USA Today via Reuters
The 2023 Masters Championship marked the 25th appearance of the legend in the tournament. He has managed to bag the trophy five times, standing behind Jack Nicklaus, who won the trophy six times. Entering the 2024 Augusta National, marks out to be another milestone in his legacy, as he will be battling to tie up with the number of wins of Nicklaus.
With just 10 days ahead of D-day, there are waves of speculations and questions. Among them is a looming one: Has the legendary golfer ever floundered to miss the cut?
The one time Tiger Woods missed the cutline
Until 2023, Tiger Woods made 23 consecutive cuts, not missing the cutline once in his 23 consecutive appearances. He first appeared at the Masters in 1995, where he tied for the 41st position with Mark Calcavecchia, Jeff Sluman, and Payne Stewart. Right after his first year, playing as an amateur, he missed the cut for the first time in 1996.
Taking to the noteworthy tenure that the legend has had, Bob Harig took to his official X (formerly Twitter) account and wrote, “As @TWlegion noted earlier, Tiger is at Augusta National today in advance of the Masters. Word is he is playing with (or did) club chairman Fred Ridley and . . . Justin Thomas.” Ever since the first and last time of missing the cut, he has always made it to the cuts, except for when he did not appear for the games at all.
In 2014, he suffered from a back injury while playing in the final round of the Honda Classic, which disabled him from being a part of the Masters that year. He even withdrew himself from the tournament in 2016 just six days before the commencement due to the same prolonged back injury, and he did not appear the next year as well!
However, the worst was when, in 2021, just 90 minutes before the tournament was about to begin, Woods withdrew himself because of the injury to his right leg from the car accident. However, that’s not all. Woods’ journey has not been all sunshine and rainbows in Masters. He was involved in one of the biggest controversies in the history of golf!
A bad drop and a penalty: Woods’s 2013 controversy
In the 2013 Masters, Tiger Woods was led by a bad break, which resulted in a bad drop. Tiger Woods himself had posted a thread of tweets on his X account that, in the second round, he had taken an improper position in placing his ball on the 15th hole. Thus, his shot hit the pin and the ball bounced back into the water. He had scored a bogey on the par-5, but the score got changed into a triple bogey.
As explained by Woods, “At hole #15, I took a drop that I thought was correct and by the rules. I was unaware at that time I had violated any rules.” He was given a two-shot penalty and he accepted it. But he was saved, as the USGA and R&A had just changed the rules in 2011. This allowed players to take penalties afterward if the logical factors were not well presented. Gradually, Fred Riley stated that Woods had complied with the rules after going through the recording!
Do you recall the infamous incident and will Mr.T cut this year’s Masters? Share your thoughts with us in the comments section below!
