Having not won a major in six years could be a reason Tiger Woods is considering changing his pre-Masters preparation.
Woods shot a 71 in the first round of the Honda Classic Thursday and afterward said he could alter his playing schedule or the way he prepares for the year’s first major in April at Augusta National.
“It could be all of the above,” he said to ESPN.
After the Honda Classic, Woods is scheduled to defend his titles at next week’s WGC-Cadillac Championship at Doral and the Arnold Palmer Invitational in three weeks, giving him two tournament weeks off prior to the Masters, which begins April 10.
“Still looking into that, yeah,” Woods said of his preparation. “Still looking to possibly make some changes going in there.”
Woods being Woods, he did not elaborate on the potential changes.
He skipped last week’s WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship, and his 1-over 71 at PGA National on Thursday was just his eighth official round of 2014. He missed the secondary 54-hole cut at the Farmers Insurance Open and also played the Dubai Desert Classic.
The only tournaments he could add are the Valspar Championship in two weeks at Innisbrook, near Tampa, Fla.; the Valero Texas Open in San Antonio, which follows Palmer’s tournament; or the Shell Houston Open, which is played the week before the Masters.
To play near Tampa would mean competing four straight weeks, something Woods rarely does; he has not played the San Antonio event since first turning pro in 1996; and Woods has never played the Houston Open or the week prior to the Masters as a pro.
