Tiger Woods breaks another Masters record (but he doesn’t want this one)

For the second day running, Tiger Woods is a record-breaker at the Masters.

The five-time winner of the Green Jacket added another paragraph to his long list of triumphant Augusta achievements when he made the cut for the 24th consecutive time thanks to opening rounds of 72 and 73.

But he struggled on Saturday, and a third-round 82 earned a slice of unwanted history.

It’s Woods’ highest ever single-round score in this tournament. His previous worst was 78 – which he carded in both the third and fourth rounds in the 2022 Masters.

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It’s just the fifth time Woods has failed to break 80 since joining the professional ranks and the first since the opening day of the 2015 US Open when he hit that number on the button. He also had an 81 at the 2002 Open Championship, which makes this his worst-ever score in a major.

The other times were an 82 at the 2015 Phoenix Open, and an 85 at the Memorial in the same year.

Woods’ third round at the 88th Masters included back-to-back double-bogeys at the seventh and eighth as he needed 42 blows to reach the turn – his highest ever front-nine score at the Masters. He famously made the turn in 40 in 1997 before going on to win by 12, and he did it again in 2004, where he finished in a tie for 22nd.

Woods also had bogeys at the fourth, ninth and 12th before finishing with four in a row. His only gains came at the par-four fifth and par-five 13th.

After his round, Woods rather matter-of-factly said he “was not hitting it very good or putting well”.

“I missed a lot of putts,” he added. “Easy, makeable putts.”

Woods also admitted he was suffering from a marathon Friday which saw him play 23 holes after the weather delay 24 hours earlier had spilled his opening round into a second day.

“I didn’t have a very good warmup session, and I kept it going all day today. Just hit the ball in all the places that I know I shouldn’t hit it.

“I haven’t competed and played much. When I had chances to get it flipped around and when I made that putt at 5, I promptly three-putted 6 and flub a chip at 7 and just got it going the wrong way, and when I had opportunities to flip it, I didn’t.”

But there is no chance of a second straight withdrawal from the Masters.

“My team will get me ready,” he confirmed. “It will be a long night and a long warmup session, but we’ll be ready.”

Get more reaction on the Masters daily commute episodes of The bunkered Podcast from Augusta.

Alex Perry is the Associate Editor of bunkered. A journalist for more than 20 years, he has been a golf industry stalwart for the majority of his career and, in a five-year spell at ESPN, covered every sporting event you can think of. He completed his own Grand Slam at the 2023 Masters, having fallen in love with the sport at his hometown club of Okehampton and on the links of nearby Bude & North Cornwall.

Associate Editor