AUGUSTA, Georgia – For the past four years, Justin Thomas has played training rounds at Augusta National Golf Club with two former masters champions – Fred Couples and Tiger Woods.
Thomas said Couples, the 1992 Masters winner, blew him up Tuesday morning.
“He didn’t feel like waking up in the cold weather early this morning, so I made sure to give him some pain,” Thomas said. “I don’t know if he would have saved me if Tiger had been with me, but he did it to me.”
Woods, a five-time Masters champion who last won the event in 2019, is at home in Florida, recovering from serious injuries he suffered in a one-car wreck outside Los Angeles. on February 23.
He contacted social media on Tuesday afternoon, saying he would “miss running” Dustin Johnson’s bill at the Champions Dinner on Tuesday night.
I’m thinking about my guy @tigerwoods during this week @maestrii. I will miss you tonight at dinner. Not the same without you. pic.twitter.com/AigjVx2HIZ
– fredcouplesgolf (@fredcouplesgolf) April 6, 2021
Thomas said he visited Woods several times last week and exchanged text messages with him on Friday morning.
“He said he’s starting to settle in,” Thomas said. “He’s fighting he’s not here playing training rounds with us and we and we hate him.”
Woods, 45, underwent several hours of emergency surgery to repair what doctors called “significant orthopedic injuries” in his lower right leg and ankle. Doctors said Woods suffered shredded open fractures – bones that were broken into more than two pieces and with tears in the skin – in the upper and lower parts of the tibia and fibula of the right leg.
Woods is not expected to attend the Champions dinner on Tuesday night hosted by Dustin Johnson. Woods hosted the pandemic delayed Masters event in November 2020.
The 61-year-old couple posted a photo on Twitter on Tuesday night, in which he and another member of his team wore Tiger masks.
I’m thinking about my guy @tigerwoods during this week @maestrii. I will miss you tonight at dinner. Not the same without you. pic.twitter.com/AigjVx2HIZ
– fredcouplesgolf (@fredcouplesgolf) April 6, 2021
Rory McIlroy, who also lives in South Florida, said he visited Woods for a few hours at home on March 21.
“It was good to see him in a decent spirit and not really as … as when you hear about these things and look at the car and see the crash, it’s like you think he’s going to be in bed. hospital for six months, “McIlroy said.” But he’s actually doing better than that. “
McIlroy said Woods would miss the tournament he liked to play the most.
“Every time Tiger Woods does it on a golf tournament, it’s better,” McIlroy said. “It’s better for the tournament. It’s better for the players involved. It’s better for everyone. Unfortunately, he’s not here this year. Hopefully, if his recovery goes well, who knows, he could return in 12 months. But, yes, he always misses when he doesn’t play in these big events.
“I know she’s home and she’s fully focused on the recovery process, and I feel like she’s mentally strong enough to go through that. And once she does, the broken bones heal and she just has to keep up with step.”
Thomas said: “I would say that the thing for him is that, unfortunately, he has gone through rehabilitation processes before.”
On January 19, Woods announced that he had undergone a microdiscectomy to alleviate the nerve pain in his back. He previously did it three times – once in the spring of 2014 and twice in the fall of 2015. He had a spinal fusion in April 2017 that prevented him from swinging a golf club for six months.
Woods returned from that operation in 2018 and won the Tour Championship that year, followed by the Masters in 2019 and the Zozo Championship later that year.
Thomas said he told Woods, one of his close friends, that he would do whatever it took to help.
“That’s what I want to do for him, just say, ‘Man, I’ll do whatever you want.’ If you need me to help with your children, I can do that. If you want a McDonald’s and you want me to get it, man, I don’t care. I’m here for you and I’ll help you anyway I can, “said Thomas.
One thing McIlroy took from the visit was that Woods’ trophy was in the family room of his house, and Rory couldn’t help but notice that it contained only the trophies won in 15 major championships.
“It’s great,” McIlroy told Woods. “Where is everyone else?”
McIlroy said Woods told him he didn’t know where he was and that his mother had some and “a few are everywhere.”
“I was driving home and I thought that’s all he cared about,” McIlroy said. “So how easy it must have felt for him to win everyone else.
“That was always on my mind, he talked about these are the four weeks that matter … The other things must have been like a practice. Yes, that’s what I was able to think on the way home. And I was glad it was good too. “