Tiger Woods seeking another incredible Augusta comeback at the Masters

On April 7 last year, Tiger Woods found himself in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons.

Police investigating the 15-time major winner’s car accident in Los Angeles 43 days earlier revealed on the eve of the 85th Masters that Woods had been travelling at almost twice the legal speed limit at the time of the crash.

“Estimated speeds at the first area of impact were 84-87mph and the final estimated speed when the vehicle struck the tree was 75mph,” Los Angeles County Sheriff Alex Villanueva said. The speed limit on that stretch of road is 45mph.

Woods sustained severe injuries to his right leg in the single-vehicle incident and later admitted: “I’m lucky to be alive and to still have the limb. (Amputation) was on the table.”

Twelve months on, Woods will be in the spotlight once more on April 7 as he tees off in the first round of the 86th Masters, having completed an incredible journey from that crash on Hawthorne Boulevard to Magnolia Lane, the tree-lined gateway to Augusta National.

Confined to a hospital bed for three months, initially in Los Angeles and then at home in Florida, the odds of Woods returning to competitive golf appeared slim to say the least, even for a player who had recovered from numerous knee operations and career-saving spinal fusion surgery.

Yet by December that year he was fit enough to finish second with son Charlie in a parent-child event in Orlando, albeit with the assistance of a golf cart and a scramble format, and hopes of a competitive playing return began to rise.

Hope became hype when his private jet was tracked on social media as it made its way to Georgia last week, Woods playing a practice round – and the par-three course – at Augusta alongside Charlie and Justin Thomas.

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