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Tiger Woods showcased a new skill after a practice round Tuesday ahead of The Masters this week — one of golf‘s most illustrious tournaments.
The five-time Masters winner has returned to the Augusta National Golf Club in Georgia with grand ambitions of winning another coveted green jacket.
But he’ll have to do something he’s rarely done in the last four years and that’s complete a 72-hole event.
On Tuesday, he showed there’s plenty of life in the old dog yet as the 48-year-old heard the pleas of a loud fan who requested Woods launch his golf ball at him after he completed the practice round.
The fan, identified as Matt Agonis as reported by Channel 2 Action News, said: “Tiger! I’m open!”
Agonis added: “We were just there sitting and it happened to be quiet and then I was looking at him and I’m like, ‘Hey, why not?’
“I yelled at him and he kind of smirked at me and turned, and that’s when I knew it.”
Agonis grew excited internally, thinking to himself: “Oh gosh, he’s gonna do it.”
Woods then hurled the ball at him with a quarterback’s accuracy. Agonis almost fumbled, but said it caused temporary discomfort when it connected with his hand.
“He missiled it right to me,” Agonis said. “There was everyone around me so I don’t know but I just jumped up.
“It hit my hand first and I didn’t initially catch it and it bounced off it was like a double catch.”
He added that Woods “throws a fast one” and said his “hand was throbbing for a little bit.”
Agonis finished by remarking that Tiger has a “good arm.”
Woods Wants Another Win at Augusta
Woods has lofty goals this week as he told reporters at a press conference Tuesday that he thinks he has one more Masters triumph in him.
“If everything comes together, I think I can get one more,” Woods said, raising a snicker from one or two people in attendance.
Making the cut and surviving until the weekend of the four-day event will set a Masters record for 24 consecutive tournaments, after he tied Fred Couples and Gary Player’s hauls of 23 each in 2023.
“Consistency” and “longevity” are the keys to that sustained run, Woods said.
“And it’s an understanding of how to play this golf course. That’s one of the reasons why you see players that are in their 50s and 60s make cuts here, or it’s players in their late 40s have runs at winning the event, just the understanding of how to play it.”
Woods ‘Can Win’ The Masters This Year, Couples Says
Woods, a 100/1 long-shot to win The Masters according to Bet MGM, can go all the way and actually win The Masters despite his injury record, Couples said this week.
“I think the last thing he’s thinking about is making the cut,” Couples said, according to the official PGA Tour website.
“Can he win here? You know what, yeah.”
Couples has an insider perspective on how well Woods is faring around Augusta having played half a practice round with him, and Justin Thomas, on Tuesday.
“I just watched him play nine holes, and nine holes are only nine holes on a Tuesday, but he never mishits a shot,” Couples said.
“But the idea of making a cut —I think he would laugh at that because he’s not here to do that; he’s here to win.
“He’s here to play really, really hard … he just hits so good.”
The Masters begins Thursday and airs on ESPN and CBS.
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