Tiger Woods is at the Masters. But the big question is whether he'll play

AUGUSTA, Ga. — At the end of a mostly empty practice range with the Masters tournament a few days away, Tiger Woods was back in his element on Sunday. On a sunny day with temperatures near 80 degrees, a smiling Woods took about 30 fluid swings, posing in his follow-through to watch high, arcing shots against a cloudless blue sky.

As he periodically joked with his longtime caddie, Joe LaCava, the three months Woods had spent confined to a bed following his near-fatal single-vehicle car crash last year must have felt very distant.

After his 16-minute session on the range, a laughing Woods waved to reporters standing nearby and headed for Augusta National Golf Club's back nine for a practice round. Still unknown is whether Woods will play in this year's Masters Tournament, which begins Thursday.

On Sunday morning, he wrote on Twitter that he was flying to Augusta to continue to practice and prepare. But he said that competing would be "a game-time decision."

Woods, 46, who has been undergoing arduous rehabilitation on his surgically rebuilt right leg since his sport-utility vehicle tumbled off a Los Angeles-area boulevard at a high speed on Feb. 23, 2021, arrived in Augusta from Florida, where he lives, by private jet at about 1:30 p.m. on Sunday.

He walked onto the wide Augusta National practice range at 3:21 p.m. wearing a coral shirt, black pants and black shoes. His gait was ever so slightly stilted when his right foot contacted the grass, but when he swung the golf club — beginning with a wedge, then longer irons, fairways woods and a driver — he looked smooth, pushing off his right foot to successfully balance on his left foot to make the swing complete.

Though LaCava dropped three bags of balls at Woods's feet, Woods stopped swinging with just a few balls left in the first bag, pausing to shake hands and hug his fellow PGA Tour pro Billy Horschel, who had been practicing at the other end of the range. After a few minutes, Woods made his way to the golf course.

At roughly the same time, Augusta National added Woods to a list of players scheduled to conduct news conferences on Tuesday. It would be reasonable to expect Woods to play another practice round on Monday, especially with heavy rain and thunderstorms forecast on Tuesday.

Woods also played a practice round last week at Augusta National.

The 15-time major champion has a reputation for willing himself to victory under the most challenging circumstances, and based on his swings on Sunday, he has regained a semblance of his golf prowess. But playing at Augusta National, a lengthy course known for its unforgiving elevation changes, could be a daunting challenge. On Wednesday, in a conference call with reporters, Curtis Strange, the two-time U.S. Open champion who is now a golf analyst for ESPN, called Augusta National "the hardest walk in golf."

Another two-time winner of the U.S. Open, Andy North, who is also an ESPN commentator, said he thought the British Open would be a likely place to return to competition for Woods because this year's venue — St. Andrews — is "flat and it's an easy walk."

"Augusta is the last place you would have thought he could possibly play," North said.

But Woods, who won his first Masters title 25 years ago, in 1997, has carefully managed expectations — of the golf world and, perhaps, of his own — for a return to the tour at several points since the crash.

In mid-February, before the Genesis Invitational, Woods said in a news conference that he had worked mostly on chipping, putting and short irons, but had not spent time "seriously" on his long game because of his right leg.

"I'm still working on the walking part," Woods said then. "My foot was a little messed up there about a year ago, so the walking part is something that I'm still working on, working on strength and development in that. It takes time. What's frustrating is it's not at my timetable. I want to be at a certain place, but I'm not. I've just got to continue working. I'm getting better, yes. But as I said, not at the speed and rate that I would like."

In mid-November, in his first public appearance since the accident, Woods cast doubt on his ability to return to a physical condition that would allow him to be competitive and win on the PGA Tour.

Woods, who on Nov. 21 posted a short video on social media of himself taking a swing, said he hoped to play competitive golf again at some point, but offered no timetable for doing so, and ruled out a full-time return to the PGA Tour.

"I got that last major," Woods said Nov. 30 at a news conference, recalling his stunning 2019 victory at the Masters, golf's most watched event, at age 43.

In December, Woods played 36 holes with his son Charlie at the PNC Championship. The scramble format allowed for the use of a cart, and Woods walked with a limp and struggled on some drives to push off with his right leg.

Woods sustained open fractures, in several places, of the tibia and the fibula in his right leg. He spent a month in the hospital, and doctors had considered the possibility that his leg might have to be amputated.

"I've had a pretty good run," Woods said in November, then nine months removed from the crash. He added: "I don't see that type of trend going forward for me. It's going to have to be a different way. I'm at peace with that. I've made the climb enough times."

At the 2020 Masters, played in November rather than April because of the pandemic, Woods struggled and finished tied for 38th. But it was the 2019 Masters, his first major tournament victory in 11 years, that would make any challenge seem possible.

After undergoing multiple back and knee surgeries, Woods was not considered a serious contender that year, yet through the final round he played his best golf, birdieing three of the final six holes to win his fifth Masters title. When he sank the winning putt on the 18th hole, he celebrated with a primal scream as thousands of fans encircling the green roared.

Two years earlier, Woods had ranked as low as 1,119th in the world. His comeback, given his off-the-course hardships then, is among the greatest in sports history.