Masters 2012: Tiger Woods says sorry

Tiger Woods has apologised for his club-kicking and cursing during his second-round 75 in The Masters at Augusta.

The former world No.1’s hopes are hanging by a thread after he remained three over par with a third-round 72 yesterday, but the questions then came about the way he reacted to hitting into sand on the short 16th the round before.

Woods, who angrily kicked his club away, said: “I certainly heard that people didn’t like me kicking the club, but I didn’t like it either.

“I hit it right in the bunker and didn’t feel good on my toe either.”

There had also been some audible cursing and on that he added: “Certainly I’m frustrated at times and I apologise if I offended anybody by that.

“But I’ve hit some bad shots and it’s frustrating at times not hitting the ball where you need to hit it.”

Woods might be fined by the PGA Tour, but they do not make their disciplinary actions public.

The four-time champion still gives himself a chance, but said: “I’m so far back I definitely need help from the guys – and a spectacular final round.”

His day’s work promised to be so much better when he birdied the third and fourth, but he then bogeyed the short sixth for the second day running and dropped another shot when he went long on the ninth. The back nine saw nine successive pars, but he almost certainly needed far more and on the 510-yard 13th – the best eagle chance – he hooked his drive into Rae’s Creek.

The par fives all week tell their own story. He has played 12 of them now and has had only one birdie. “I have to take care of the par fives,” he added. “I have just not got going on them. I think it [a victory] is certainly do-able, but it’s a little bit tricky.”

Woods sounded resigned to missing out, however, when he also said: “That’s the way it goes. You can’t win all the tournaments, but you can try to improve and I just need to continue with the process.”

During his third round, Sir Nick Faldo – a three-time Masters winner and now an American television commentator – had said: “I think we can officially say that Tiger has lost his game and his mind right now.”

The former world No.1 won his 72nd PGA Tour title by five shots only two weeks ago, but was so disgusted by how he was playing that he practised until after dark on Friday.

“He has not got a clue how to get the clubface on to the ball,” Faldo added. “He has become like the rest of us. He wasn’t like that, he was paranormal.

“He is running on sheer frustration right now. There was the Tiger of old, but over the last couple of years things have changed technically, physically and mentally – the whole karma of his life.”