Masters 2018: Mickelson, McIlroy, Spieth pay tribute to Tiger Woods at Augusta

AUGUSTA, Georgia — Golf is weird. If you lose 95 percent of the time, you’re historically a great player. That means most of the time when you don’t win, you have other golfers you can root for, other players you can cheer on. We’ve seen that lately. Rickie Fowler Congratulations to friends Justin Thomas and Jordan Spieth after his win. But the guy everybody supports in golf, Tiger WoodsJust recently went back and Phil Mickelson (of all people!) at the Masters said how excited he was for it.

“I think there’s nobody who has more respect and appreciation for what he’s done for the game, because nobody has benefited more from what he’s done for the game of golf than me,” Mickelson said. After playing a practice round with Woods on Tuesday“I’ve always had admiration and respect for him. It’s incredible to see him playing again. We all feel that way.

“I texted him a while back when he was playing at Valspar that it felt like a different time, because I found myself rooting for him so hard. That was unusual. And I guess I want him to play well, and I’m excited to see him play so well. And he’s playing well.”

He really is. Woods finished in the top 12 for three consecutive times And he comes into the Masters ranked No. 7 on the PGA Tour in strokes gained. He’s gaining nearly the same number of strokes per round in various fields as he did in 2013, when he won five times.

“It’s possible for him to walk around this place without fearing … it’s too long or there’s not enough speed, yes, whenever Tiger Woods is healthy and in this kind of form, he is dangerous in any golf tournament,” rory mcilroy “But given his history here, I think it’s even more significant.”

“Obviously when Tiger came out on the range today you could see the excitement and enthusiasm in the crowd to see him compete again,” the European Ryder Cup partner said. Justin Rose“(There’s) a lot of people playing good golf.”

Among the top 12 players in the world participating in this event (No. 10) brooks koepka sitting out due to injury), eight (!) of them have won an event somewhere around the world this calendar year. If that, combined with Woods’ resurgence, doesn’t create a bit of power for the first major of 2018, I’m not sure what will.

“I think with Tiger being healthy and playing well, no matter what happens, it’s probably going to be as anticipated as any (Masters) in the last five, six, seven years,” said 2015 champion Jordan Spieth. “So that’s a thing in itself.

“But then Phil won recently, Rory won recently, Bubba won recently, Justin played well, DJ played well, I mean, yeah, there’s a lot of guys playing really good golf which normally creates storylines. Then when you put it on the biggest stage in our sport, I think that creates anticipation.”

Justin Thomas, who played a practice round with Woods on Monday, said his former sensei is quiet when it comes to imparting wisdom.

“I think it must have been a little bit harder for Tiger to figure things out when he was hurt and I was asking him questions,” said Thomas, who is golf’s most recent major champion with the 2017 PGA Championship.

As far as Tiger is concerned, he is happy to play well here.

“It’s been a tough journey,” Woods said. “I’ve described it a little bit, just the pain of sitting there and the times I fell because my leg wasn’t working or I had to lay on the ground for a long time. Those were some really bad times.

“The reason I call myself a walking miracle is because … I don’t know of anybody who has had a fusion in their lower back and can swing a club as fast as I can. It’s unbelievable. I come from a guy … who had a lot of trouble getting up, walking, sitting down, anything, to now I can swing a club … 129 (mph). That’s a miracle, right?”

This is true to some extent. Even more so when translated into the prime number 15.

“We know we have to play well to win and it’s going to be very challenging,” Woods said. “It’s going to be fun. And I think everybody is looking forward to it, not just the spectators but the players as well.”