08/04/2026

SPORTS WEDNESDAY | APR 8, 2026

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Tiger’s treatment battle in thoughts of stars

Justin Rose tees off during yesterday’s practise round ahead of The Masters at Augusta National Golf Club. – REUTERSPIC

GREEN JACKET CONTENDERS

TIGER WOODS was missing from the Masters yesterday, but the 15-time major winner was in the hearts and minds of several stars at Augusta National. Woods stepped away from golf last week to begin treatment after pleading not guilty fol lowing a DUI arrest near his Florida home after a car crash, telling police he was looking at his phone just before the accident, in which there were no injuries. Police later revealed Woods was found with two hydrocodone pills, an opioid painkiller, and appeared unable to safely drive a vehicle when he was apprehended. “He’s just a human being like eve ryone else and we have struggles,” said Jason Day, the 2015 PGA Championship winner from Australia. “It’s unfortunate. The only thing that I don’t understand is that it’s a little bit selfish of him to drive and put other people in harm’s way as well. “But when you’re the player that he was and how strong-willed he is, he thinks he can do almost anything, and that’s probably why he’s probably driving and a little bit under the influence.” Fred Couples, a pal of Woods and the

1992 Masters champion, was happy to hear Woods had flown to Switzerland. “If he’s in Switzerland he must be at a spot that’s going help him and that’s the key thing,” Couples said. “Probably won’t see him for a few months, and when he comes back, hopefully we can keep in touch.” Day’s thoughts were on the struggle ahead of Woods at age 50 with numerous back and leg surgeries. “In regards to Tiger, it just shows the human element and the human side of someone that is struggling with some sort of an addiction,” Day said. “He’s not immune to it just because he can hit a golf ball really well. He’s had 25- to 30- something surgeries and when you’re going through that many procedures, it’s painful coming out of those procedures. “I’ve had procedures done and I typically try and stay away from all that stuff because I just know that painkillers, there can potentially be a downfall to it.” Patrick Reed, the 2018 Masters champion, summed up the loss felt at Augusta with Woods absent. “Hopefully he’s able to get a speedy recov ery and get back here to golf as fast as he can,” Reed said. – AFP

RORY MCILROY will look to defend his title at the 90th Masters which takes place at Augusta. However, the Northern Irishman is not in his best form and will face a strong challenge from a num ber of the world’s best. Here is a look at some of the likely contenders. Rory McIlroy The Northern Irishman has to be

included as defending champion and world No. 2 but his game is not where he would want it after a back problem forced his withdrawal from the Arnold Palmer Invitational with a disap pointing joint 48th at the Players on his return last month. McIlroy has said he will enjoy going back to Augusta and hopes it will free him up but the occa sion may be bigger than he thinks. Scottie Scheffler Scottie Scheffler is looking to

win a third green jacket in five years as golf’s “Mr Consistent” started the season with a win, a third and a fourth place in his first three starts but has been plagued by poor first rounds and his last two events he was well short of his best. However, the world No. 1 knows his way around Augusta and has finished fourth, first, 10th and first in his last four appearances and cannot be discounted. Bryson DeChambeau One of two in-form LIV Golfers after winning back-to-back events in Singapore and S. Africa. The American, who finished sixth in 2024, started last year’s final round in the last group with McIlroy but eventually dropped to joint fifth. His game appears to be trending in the right direction. Jon Rahm The other LIV golfer who will consider himself in with a chance. This year he failed to convert 54 hole leads in Saudi Arabia and Adelaide but won in Hong Kong and lost a playoff to DeChambeau in South Africa. He has had three top-10s in his last five major starts and has a win and four top-10s in nine Augusta outings. Ludvig Aberg The 26-year-old Swede saves some of his best performances for the Masters, finishing runner-up on his 2024 debut and seventh last year having jointly held the final-round lead late on Sunday. Two top fives in his last two events suggest he is starting to find his form again just in time for the ride up Magnolia Drive. Matt Fitzpatrick Aberg’s Ryder Cup teammate is arguably the player with the best trajectory as he entered last year’s Masters outside the world’s top 70 but returns in a career-high fifth after two wins and nine other top-10s in his last 19 starts. Agonisingly lost the Players at the 72nd hole but bounced back the following week to win the Valspar Championship. Fitzpatrick has not missed a Masters cut since his debut 12 years ago and if he can find some form with the putter the 2022 US Open champion is in with a shout. Xander Schauffele After his double-major-winning 2024 the American struggled last year after being ham pered by an early-season injury but has returned to something close to his best form. Has the ability to find a hot streak and shoot low, evidenced by rounds of 65 in five of his seven events this year. Five top-10s in eight appearances suggests he knows how to handle the course. The Independent

Undeterred Rose Augusta does not owe me anything, says Englishman

Ű BY CARL MARKHAM

“Definitely there is some motivation there to kind of keep going, keep push ing, try to find new habits, new ways of trying to get better, realising that’s a pretty difficult ambition to get better at this stage of my career. “But I still feel like there’s areas of my game that I can improve on significantly and easily without age being a factor to those areas of my game.” Rose also said it was a loss to the tournament that former multiple cham pions Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson were not present his year. Woods is taking time out to seek treatment after his recent car crash and driving under the influence charge, while Mickelson is absent for family rea sons. “They’ve both been obviously titans of the game for the last three decades,” Rose said. “Whether they’re 1,000 in the world or 500 in the world, their stature is way more elevated than that in the game of golf and always will be. “It’s always a loss to not have either of them in a field anywhere.” – The Independent

over the line. I feel like I’ve executed well enough to have done the job. “I can’t control the outcome. Last year in the playoff I felt like I learned from 2017 and I played a much better playoff than I did previously. “I did the right things. I executed. I did everything that I could do so I can live with that, in a way. I can be philo sophical about it. “It was a bit surreal. I felt a little bit of deja vu , like ‘Wow, I feel like I’ve lived this before.’ “I can see the celebrations, it all played out right in front of me, so I lived it as if I’d have won it but obviously with out any of the real positive emotion that goes with that. It’s disappointing, of course, but there’s no kind of ‘Why?.’” Rose, who turns 46 in July, is running out of time to continue seriously con tending to add to his only major victory – the 2013 US Open – but he does not believe his age is an issue. “I don’t think about it on a day-to day level,” he said. “(I’m) happy that the narrative around it is more positive than negative, for the most part.

J USTIN ROSE insists the Masters does not owe him anything after a number of near-misses at Augusta National. The Englishman lost out to Rory McIlroy in a playoff a year ago, his third second-place finish at the tour nament and his second to a Ryder Cup teammate after being edged out by Sergio Garcia at an extra hole in 2017. Rose also has four other Masters top 10s but he insists the experience has not scarred him, even if he said having a ringside seat to see McIlroy win the green jacket and complete the career grand slam was “surreal” and “a little bit deja vu ”. “I’m very aware that I’ve been close here,” he said. “I’m very aware that I’ve had tough, tough losses here. “I also am aware that I enjoy this place so I don’t want to feel that those three second-place finishes need to cre ate a different sort of feeling for me. “I don’t feel like it owes me anything. I hope it only boosts my belief I can go ahead and do it. I just haven’t walked

Thai amateur Fifa ready for the big time

PONGSAPAK LAOPAKDEE, a 21-year-old Thai golfer better known as Fifa, is ready for a his toric start tomorrow at the 90th Masters. Fifa, a junior at Arizona State University, will become the first Thai amateur to compete at Augusta National when he tees off in the opening round at the famed course. “It’s a huge honour, that’s for sure, to be the first Thai amateur to play in the Masters. It’s always nice to know that you’re playing for something that’s bigger than yourself,” he said yesterday. “Thai fans have been very nice to me. It’s nice to see how much they care and how much they support me and have my back.”

said. “So luckily it ended up with Fifa.” Fifa was amazed at the hospitality at Augusta Nation – “they’re treating us like a king” – and with his place in the locker room. “It’s amazing to be walking into the locker room and my locker is between Tiger (Woods) and Bryson (DeChambeau). That’s a lot to soak in. I definitely took a picture of that,” Laopakdee said. “It’s amazing that all these guys that you always watch on TV and now you finally get to play in the same event with them in one of the most prestigious events on one of the most prestigious golf courses in the world. You couldn’t ask for anything better.” – AFP

Fifa won last October’s Asia-Pacific Amateur in Dubai to claim a spot in this week’s Masters field, making birdies on the last two holes of regulation play and all three playoff holes to earn his trip to Augusta. “I was just singing songs down the fairway in the playoff and trying to stay in the present, not think too much about what’s going on around me, just stay composed,” he said. “And it worked out perfectly.” Fifa can thank his father for his nickname being the same as the world football govern ing body. “My dad is a huge football fan and he was choosing between Fifa and Uefa,” Laopakdee