Woods aims to pull off another Masters miracle

Tiger Woods plans to tee it up in the Masters on Thursday, gunning for a record-equalling sixth green jacket in what would be the most miraculous resurgence of a career studded with epic comebacks.

Woods last played 17 months ago, in the pandemic-delayed 2020 Masters.

His lower right leg is knit together with the "hardware" of stabilizing rods and screws inserted after he suffered devastating injuries in a February 2021 single-car crash.

Woods spent three months in a hospital bed, more time in a wheelchair before graduating to crutches, and now thinks he can not only walk the rolling, 7,510-yard Augusta National course for four rounds, but also give himself a chance to match Jack Nicklaus's record of six Masters titles.

"I do," Woods said when asked outright if he thought he could win.

Through years of injury and comebacks, Woods has always said he wouldn't enter a tournament he didn't think he could win.

He won the 2008 US Open with a broken leg and torn knee ligament. It would be more than a decade, and five back surgeries later, before he won his next major title at the 2019 Masters, taking his career tally to 15.

"You know, 72 holes is a long road, and it's going to be a tough challenge and a challenge that I'm up for," Woods said.

"I don't have to worry about ball striking or the game of golf, it's actually just the hills out here. That's going to be the challenge, it's going to be the challenge of a major marathon."

Defending champion Hideki Matsuyama is in a race for fitness. Rory McIlroy is still chasing the Masters title that would complete his career Grand Slam.

Scottie Scheffler arrives at the first major of the year as a newly minted world number one. But Spain's second-ranked Jon Rahm is one of five players who could