Tiger Woods threw several clubs in frustration as he worked on his game “from sun up to sun down” in order to be ready for his 20th Masters appearance.
But the former world No 1 also showed a rare lighter side to his personality yesterday, confirming his two children would caddie for him during the par-three contest he has not played in since 2004.
Woods has started just two events in 2015, shooting a career-worst score of 82 to miss the cut in the Phoenix Open and withdrawing through injury after just 11 holes of the Farmers Insurance Open on February 5.
That led to the 14-time major winner taking a break from competition to get his game back in shape, during which time he dropped outside the world’s top 100 for the first time since September 1996, a slide which continued on Monday as he fell from 104th to 111th.
The 39-year-old has not won a major since the 2008 US Open and the last of his four Masters wins was a decade ago, but after 11 holes of practice on Monday he declared he was finally able to “compete to win a golf tournament.”
“I worked hard,” Woods said with a smile in his pre-tournament press conference.
“People would never understand how much work I put into it to come back and do this again.
“It was sun up to sundown, and whenever I had free time. If the kids were asleep, I’d still be doing it, and then when they were in school, I’d still be doing it. So it was a lot of work.”
Asked if he had ever lost hope, Woods added: “More frustration than anything else, because I knew what I could do and just wasn’t able to do it at the time.
“It would come in flashes. I would get in these modes where it would come for 10 minutes and I would just have it, just dialled in, and then I’d lose it for an hour; and then I’d get it back.
“There were times when there were a few clubs that flew, suddenly slipped out of my hand and travelled some pretty good distances, too. There were some frustrating moments, but I had to stick with it.”
Another man excited to be back at the Masters is Rory McIlroy, who admits Thursday cannot come soon enough as he bids to complete a career grand slam.
The hype surrounding McIlroy’s attempt to join Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan, Gary Player, Jack Nicklaus and Woods in winning all four major titles has been building since the night before his Open victory at Hoylake last July.
And although Woods’ return has taken some of the spotlight, the world No 1 is anxious to let his clubs do the talking.
“I said in the middle of last week, ‘If Augusta was to start tomorrow, I’d be OK. I’m ready,” McIlroy said.
“I think that’s a good indication of where I am with my game.
“I’ve been ready for this thing to start for a week already so just trying to keep my game where it is and do some quality work, not overdo it.
“When I got here yesterday for the first time, I was ready to play and just needed to go see the golf course.
“I wasn’t working on anything in my game, my swing. Wasn’t thinking about technique at all. Just all about hitting the shots I need to and thinking about how to manage my game and get it around here for the next four days.”
McIlroy has recorded just one top-10 finish in six previous appearances at Augusta last year’s tie for eighth although he did take a four-shot lead into the final round in 2011 before collapsing to a closing 80.