AUGUSTA, Ga. — Tiger Woods isn’t an old man in the traditional sense. Outside the ropes of professional golf, the 48-year Californian looks like a healthy, vibrant middle-aged man, especially with a hat on.

Inside the yellow ropes of Augusta National Golf Club, where he will compete against 88 other golfers this week, Woods is a relative octogenarian.

At least, he talks that way.

Asked what shot on the 7,555-yard course he’ll play this week is the most difficult considering his various ailments, Woods deadpanned: “Anything not on the tee box.”

In a 20-minute question-and-answer session with reporters in a filled-to-capacity interview auditorium Tuesday, Woods described his current physical condition the following ways:

“I hurt every day.”

“I ache every day”

“Things just flare up.”

As to what parts, Woods shares: “The back, the knee, other parts of the body.”

But not, he emphasizes, the ankle.

“It’s fused. It’s not going anywhere, so that’s fine.”

While he may sound like a grandfatherly war veteran or retired NFL linebacker, Woods is very much still a professional golfer. And, being that, the owner of five green jackets makes it clear he is not here this week to be a ceremonial golfer.

In his heart, Woods still believes he can win here.

“If everything comes together I think I can get one more,” he declared.

His buddy Fred Couples agrees. Couples and Justin Thomas played a practice round with Woods Tuesday morning.

“Tiger is hitting it pure,” Couples said.

Pressed for details, Couples added: “I don’t stare at his gait much, but he just hits it so good. … He said his back is doing OK. I think last year (when Woods withdrew) it was so bad that a lot of things just wore him down, playing in that rain, moving around slowly, sluggish. The tee times where maybe he couldn’t get work done, and we were out here and doing all that. But this year he looks strong, and he’s excited to play. I think he looks really, really good.”

Especially considering what Woods’ body has been through. Most recently was the horrible car accident in 2021 that resulted in a broken leg and ankle. After last year’s Masters struggle, Woods underwent the aforementioned fusion surgery to repair the ankle.

But Wood’s physical ailments go back much further than that. Dating back to 1994, when he had surgery to remove benign tumors from his left knee, he has had at least 13 surgeries, including five on that same knee and several on his back, which also has been fused.

That has made Woods a walking, talking testament to medical science and physical therapy. He works daily during tournaments with trainer Kolby Tullier of Body Mechanics to stretch and strengthen. They don’t necessarily stick to the same routine

“It’s a daily adaptation,” Woods said. “We work at it each and every day, whether it’s trying to loosen me up or strengthen me or just recovery.”

As a result, Woods said his practice sessions aren’t what they used to be. While he used to grind for hours daily on Augusta National’s extensive practice area, now he speeds through the practice range, short-game area and practice green on the way to his first tee shot.

“I just don’t have the ball count in me anymore,” Woods said.

What he still has, however, is inspiration and motivation. Woods said the drive down Magnolia Lane still gives him chills like did the first down he drove down it as the 1995 amateur champion from Stanford who spent the week sleeping in the Crow’s Nest atop the Augusta National clubhouse.

Since then, he hugged his now late father Earl Woods next to the 18th green after winning his first major in 1997 and hugged his son Charlie in the same place after winning here the last time in 2019.

“It has meant a lot to my family; it’s meant a lot to me,” Woods said of The Masters. “I always want to keep playing in this.”

As long as that creaky, old body holds up, he will.

©2024 The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. Visit at ajc.com. Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.