Tiger Woods pleased with preparations for fifth Masters title bid

Tiger Woods admits he already has one eye on getting himself “race ready” for the Masters, even as he tries to win an incredible 19th World Golf Championships title.

Tiger Woods speaks ahead of the World Golf Championship event in Mexico. Picture: Hector Vivas/Getty Images

Woods ended a five-year winless drought by claiming his 80th PGA Tour title in the Tour Championship last year, but has never made any secret of the fact that major titles are his primary target. The last of the 43-year-old’s 14 majors to date came in the 2008 US Open and, although it is 14 years since the last of his four wins at Augusta National, Woods is firmly among the favourites for the green jacket in April.

“Augusta started (being on my radar) probably back in October, November,” Woods said in a pre-tournament press conference ahead of the WGC-Mexico Championship.

“Thinking about shots I would need, clubs I’d be using for the event, what kind of swings I have been struggling with or doing well with, especially off uneven lies and then obviously when you get to that event it’s about trying to get the speed of the greens. They like to change them from Wednesday to Thursday and they get a little quicker and harder.

“Last year’s preparation was different and previous years it was non-existent. This year to be able to ramp up a schedule and be able to know what I can do going into the event is a lot more comforting than it has been in previous years because it has been kind of an unknown going into that event.”

2018 Race to Dubai winner Francesco Molinari is making his first appearance of the season in Mexico. “I know it’s not going to be easy to repeat but I’m glad to finally get started and hopefully get off to a strong start here,” he said.