Tiger Woods 'ready to go' for Masters, Fred Couples says, after 9 practice holes at Augusta National

AUGUSTA, Ga. — Tiger Woods finished his preparation for the 86th Masters by playing the second nine at Augusta National Golf Club on Wednesday.

Woods, Justin Thomas and Fred Couples were the first group off the 10th tee around 8 a.m. ET. It was the third time Woods played nine holes this week as he prepares to play in his first tournament since suffering serious injuries in a car wreck on Feb. 23, 2021.

«He looked the exact same, maybe a little better, a little sharper,» Couples said. «JT was way better, too. We flew in on Monday and laughed a lot. Today, they were pretty serious. They're ready to roll, and they're ready to go tomorrow.»

Woods, 46, a five-time Masters champion, hasn't played in a regular PGA Tour tournament in more than 17 months. His last appearance was in the 2000 Masters, which was played in November that year because of COVID-19. He finished tied for 38th.

Woods, a 15-time major champion, will tee off in the first round at 10:34 a.m. ET on Thursday with South Africa's Louis Oosthuizen and Chile's Joaquin Niemann. The threesome will start at 1:41 p.m. ET, in the third-to-last group, in Friday's second round.

Couples, the 1992 Masters champion, said he believes Woods wouldn't be here playing if he didn't think he could compete for a sixth green jacket, which would tie Jack Nicklaus for the most ever.

«Tiger is Tiger,» Couples said. «I said it on Monday that he's not like a lot of us where I've been injured, even at age 35, and I go play just to play. He's not going to do that. He's won so many times, and he's just not a guy to go do something mediocre. He'll compete, and he'll be ready to roll.»

Woods' limp was a little more noticeable on Wednesday, especially walking down the hill on the 11th. On the