Could Tiger Woods pull off a miracle and still play at the Masters? American great’s name remains listed on the tournament website with less than two weeks until tournament starts
- Tiger Woods’ name is still listed on the Masters tournament website
- Everyone eligible continues to be listed until they inform organisers otherwise
- Ian Poulter needed a huge week at the WGC-Match Play Championship
- 46-year-old was comprehensively beaten by fellow Englishman Matt Fitzpatrick
Less than a fortnight to go to the 86th Masters, and the name of Tiger Woods is still listed on the tournament website as one of 86 ‘active competitors’ for the season’s first major.
No wonder the golf world is starting to feel just a little giddy. He couldn’t, could he?
Everyone eligible continues to be listed as playing until they inform the club otherwise, so it’s wise to exercise caution.
Tiger Woods could yet play at the Masters and his name is still on the website
But equally, it seems reasonable to assume that if there was absolutely no chance of him playing Tiger would have let the green jackets know by now — just as every other player in such a position has done, including his old adversary, Phil Mickelson.
Imagine predicting a couple of months ago that from the trio of Mickelson, Woods and Ian Poulter, the man with the best chance of making it at this late stage to the first round at Augusta would be Tiger?
Poulter needed a huge week at the WGC-Match Play Championship in Austin, Texas to expand the Masters field to 87 but, for once, it all went pear-shaped for the Englishman at his favourite form of the game.
The 46-year-old was comprehensively beaten by fellow Englishman Matt Fitzpatrick, who has yet to win a point in five games spread over two Ryder Cup appearances but whose silky putting stroke and straight driving are actually well suited to the helter-skelter 18-hole match play format.
Ian Poulter needed a huge week but suffered a comprehensive defeat by Matt Fitzpatrick
Fitzpatrick’s game is well suited to the format and he played superbly
Having lost on the opening day to American Scottie Scheffler, it means the only way Poulter can now make it to Augusta is by winning the Valero Texas Open next week.
It’s exactly the way he made it through in 2018 when he enjoyed the only strokeplay success of his career in America at the Houston Open but sadly, it’s hard to make any case for lightning striking twice. It will be just the second Masters that he has missed since 2006.
Fitzpatrick is now in control of this group, knowing that a halved match or better against Scheffler today will be sufficient to progress, after the American lost to Tommy Fleetwood.
Elsewhere, an Englishman, Tyrrell Hatton, also has two wins out of two.
Meanwhile, Irishman Seamus Power will be an Augusta debutant at the age of 35 after an impressive success over Patrick Cantlay left him in charge of his group — and continued his remarkable improvement over the past year.
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