Tiger Woods is right in the mix heading into Sunday at the Masters. It’s the third major in a row that Woods has slept near the 54-hole lead. But one thing will be distinctly different this Sunday at Augusta National: he’s going to wake up a whole lot earlier.
With storms forecast for Sunday afternoon, Augusta officials decided to move up the final round tee times at these 2019 Masters. Players will tee off in threesomes with the leaders going off around 9:20 a.m. ET. Given his position near the top of the leaderboard, Woods normally would have teed off around 3 p.m.
Now, the four-time Masters champion has to wake up much earlier than planned to get his 43-year-old body ready for the final 18. Much, much earlier.
After finishing off his five-under 67 in the third round Saturday afternoon, which put him two shots behind leader Francesco Molinari, Woods spoke to Amanda Balionis of CBS Sports, and was asked how early he would be setting his alarm clock for his morning tee time on Sunday.
“I’ll wake up around 4 a.m., maybe 3:45 a.m… Start the process of getting this body ready and get after it,” Woods said, holding back a smile.
You read that right. Tiger Woods is waking up at 3:45 a.m. before what could be the biggest round of his career.
“Tomorrow’s going to be an early wake-up call, get the body going and get the mind ready.”
Tiger Woods discusses how he will approach contending on Sunday at the Masters with our @Amanda_Balionis. pic.twitter.com/PsuTFwSbAS
— CBS Sports (@CBSSports) April 13, 2019
It’s not all that surprising, given that Woods is known to keep a disciplined training schedule, which involves a strict eating regimen and a lot of early mornings. He might not be on the level of NFL star Tom Brady (who happens to be an avid golfer), but he’s pretty close.
The early wake-up should give Tiger about four and a half hours to prepare for the final round. In that limited time, he’ll need to pack in a quality range session, spend time on the putting green, and likely work with a trainer to get his body warmed up.
If he can pull off the storybook ending, and capture his 15th major and fifth green jacket, he will have earned a much-deserved nap Sunday afternoon.
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