Tiger Woods at centre of Masters fears after 'painful to watch' moment

Tiger Woods has made the cut at the Masters thanks to a stroke of good luck, but fans are concerned for the golf legend after a clip of him limping across the green at Augusta surfaced after day three. Woods made the cut after Justin Thomas narrowly missed a short putt for par on the 17th hole before bogeying the 18th, promoting Woods back up the order.

The stroke of luck meant Woods matched the record for most consecutive cuts made at the Masters, equalling fellow golf greats in Gary Player and Fred Couples at 23. However fans were left perturbed by footage of Woods struggling to walk towards the end of his round.

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Conditions were miserable at Augusta a day after fans were sent ducking for cover as several trees were brought down near the 17th hole. The onset of rain was described by Woods' longtime caddie Joe LaCava as the 47-year-old's 'worst nightmare' as he continues to feel the effects of injuries sustained after crashing his car in 2021.

The notoriously hilly Augusta course was always going to be challenging for Woods, but many considered it little short of a miracle that he defied the conditions to fire a two-over 74 in his first rounds before following it up with a 73, despite play being suspended multiple times due to weather. Back out on the course for the third round, his limp became noticeably worse.

Starting on the back nine, he bogeyed the 10th and 14th holes before making a mess of the 15th and 16th holes. It was the first time in his Masters career that he recorded consecutive double bogeys.

Meanwhile, fans were watching on with increasing concern over the toll Woods' Masters campaign appeared to be taking on him. LaCava has said earlier this week that Woods wouldn't be playing if it was anywhere else but Augusta.

Tiger Woods upbeat about making Masters cut despite gruelling conditions

Despite the conditions and the pain endured to continue playing, Woods was upbeat after making his 23rd Masters cut. he'd openly wished for the chance to play two extra rounds - one that came true courtesy of Thomas.

"I've always loved this golf course, and I love playing this event," Woods said after the round. "Obviously I've missed a couple with some injuries, but I've always wanted to play here. I've loved it."

Meanwhile, the LIV Golf vs PGA Tour subplot has been stoked again as Brooks Koepka and Joh Rahm remained closely locked at the top of the leaderboard. The third round was suspended for the day with four-time major champion Koepka, looking to strike a massive blow for golf's breakaway group, holding a four-shot lead over world No.3 Rahm.

Koepka moved to 13 under par through six holes, one under on the round, before officials stopped play at water-logged Augusta. Thirty-nine players, including Rahm, had already returned early on Saturday morning to finish off their second rounds.

Organisers then applied a split-tee format with three-man groups for round three in desperate hope of catching up. But play eventually had to be abandoned at 3.17pm local time when greens became saturated, leaving players facing a gruelling Sunday schedule at the year's first major championship.

Koepka will return in the box seat after picking up a birdie on the par-5 second hole, then making four successive pars as his chasers struggled to keep up in the relentless rain. Rahm briefly cut the deficit to two strokes until bogeys on three and four doubled Koepka's advantage.

With AAP

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