Tiger touches down in Augusta with Masters near

Tiger Woods made a trip to Augusta National Golf Club on Saturday, perhaps a sign that the 15-time major champion intends to tee it up at the Masters on April 11.

Woods, 48, would be making his 26th Masters appearance. The five-time Masters champion can break a tournament record with his 24th consecutive made cut after tying Gary Player and Fred Couples last year. Woods withdrew before the rain-delayed third round resumed last year after aggravating plantar fasciitis in his right foot.

Radaratlas2, a flight-tracking account on X, noted on Saturday morning that a Gulfstream G550 jet that Woods owns was about to land in Augusta, Georgia.

Woods has played only one full competitive round on the PGA Tour this season. He withdrew after six holes of the second round at the Genesis Invitational at Riviera Country Club outside Los Angeles on Feb. 16 because of the flu.

It was the 82-time PGA Tour winner’s first start in an official PGA Tour event in more than 10 months. He had surgery on April 19 to address post-traumatic arthritis in his right ankle that was caused by injuries suffered in a February 2021 car wreck.

Woods did play 72 holes at the Hero World Challenge, a tournament he hosted in the Bahamas in early December and finished 18th out of 20 players.

Woods had previously stated that he hoped to play in one tournament per month if his health would allow it. He didn’t enter the Arnold Palmer Invitational and the Players Championship this month.

Woods played in a one-day Pro-Member tournament at Seminole Golf Club in Juno Beach, Florida, in early March. He reportedly played with Yasir Al-Rummayan, governor of Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund, in the Bahamas before Woods and other PGA Tour policy board player directors met with PIF officials about a potential investment.

Since returning to professional golf after the car wreck, Woods has withdrawn or missed the cut in four of his six starts. His two finishes were a tie for 45th in the 2023 Genesis Invitational and a solo 47th in the 2022 Masters.