AUGUSTA, Georgia – In each of the previous four years, Justin Thomas played practice rounds at the Augusta National Golf Club with two former Masters champions – Fred Couples and Tiger Woods.
Thomas said Couples, the 1992 Masters winner, ignored him on Tuesday morning.
“He wasn’t in the mood to get up in the early cold weather this morning, so I made a point of making him a little sad,” said Thomas. “I don’t know if he would have run away from me if Tiger had been with me, but he did.”
Woods, the five-time Masters champion who last won the event in 2019, is at home in Florida, recovering from serious injuries he sustained in a car accident outside Los Angeles on February 23.
Thomas said he visited Woods a few times in the past week and texted him on Friday morning.
“He said he is starting to settle down,” said Thomas. “He’s upset that he’s not here playing practice games with us, and we hate that too.”
Woods, 45, underwent several hours of emergency surgery to repair what doctors call “significant orthopedic injuries” to the lower part of his right leg and ankle. Doctors said Woods suffered comminuted open fractures – bones broken into more than two pieces and broken skin – in the upper and lower portions of the tibia and fibula of his right leg.
Woods is not expected to attend the Dinner of Champions on Tuesday night, hosted by Dustin Johnson. Woods hosted the event in November 2020 at the Masters delayed by the pandemic.
Couples, 61, posted a photo on Twitter Tuesday night, in which he and another member of his team wore tiger masks.
Thinking about my guy @Tiger Woods during this week @the Masters. I’m going to miss you tonight at dinner. It is not the same without you. pic.twitter.com/AigjVx2HIZ
– fredcouplesgolf (@fredcouplesgolf) April 6, 2021
Thomas didn’t say much about where Woods was in his recovery.
“I would say the thing for him is that, unfortunately, he has gone through rehabilitation processes before,” said Thomas.
On January 19, Woods announced that he had undergone a microdiscectomy to relieve pain in the nerves in his lower back. He had already done this three times – once in the spring of 2014 and twice in the fall of 2015. He had a spinal fusion in April 2017 that prevented him from swinging a golf club for six months.
Woods returned from that surgery in 2018 and won the Tour Championship that year, followed by the Masters in 2019 and the Zozo Championship later that year.
Thomas said he told Woods, one of his close friends, that he will do whatever it takes to help.
“That’s exactly what I want to do for him, it’s like, ‘Dude, I’ll do whatever you want. If you need me to help your kids, I can do this. If you want McDonald’s and you want me to bring it here, man, I don’t care. I’m here for you, and I’ll help you in any way I can, ”said Thomas.