AUGUSTA, Ga. — Rory McIlroy and Justin Thomas, two of Tiger Woods’s closest mates on the PGA Tour, mentioned Tuesday that that they had lately visited Woods at his Florida dwelling and had been inspired by how he was dealing with the restoration from his serious car crash in February.
“When you hear of these things and you look at the car and you see the crash, you think he’s going to be in a hospital bed for six months,” McIlroy mentioned after training for the Masters match, which begins Thursday. “But he was actually doing better than that. I spent a couple hours with him, which was nice. It was good to see him in decent spirits.”
Woods, 45, sustained extreme accidents to his proper leg on Feb. 23, requiring at the least two operations after the S.U.V. he was driving crashed onto a hillside alongside a difficult stretch of street in Los Angeles County. The Los Angeles County sheriff mentioned final month that an investigation into the crash was completed however that the outcomes wouldn’t be launched with out Woods’s permission.
McIlroy lives close to Woods’s dwelling in Jupiter Island, Fla., as do tour gamers like Thomas, Rickie Fowler and Brooks Koepka, who’ve additionally gone to see Woods.
“I’m sure he appreciates that,” McIlroy mentioned. “We all have a responsibility to try to keep his spirits up and keep him going and try to get him back out here.”
“I know he’s at home and he’s fully focused on the recovery process,” McIlroy continued, “and I feel like he’s mentally strong enough to get through that. And once he does, broken bones heal, and he’s just got to take it step by step. I’m sure he’s going to put everything he has into trying to be ready to play here next year.”
Thomas has performed his Masters observe rounds lately with Woods, a five-time winner of the match, and Fred Couples, one other previous Masters champion.
“We texted Friday morning, and he said it’s kind of starting to set in — he’s bummed he’s not here playing practice rounds with us,” Thomas mentioned of Woods. “And we hate it, too. I’m very, very lucky that I somehow got thrown into that practice-round group with Tiger and Freddie the last four years or whatever it is. I just follow them around like puppy dogs. Wherever they go, that’s where I go. If they hit chips from somewhere, I go hit chips from there.”
Thomas described Woods’s restoration as “good” and mentioned that every week he was dwelling he had tried to cease by Woods’s home a few instances. “That’s just what I want to do for him, is just be like: ‘Dude, I’ll do anything you want. If you need me to help out with your kids, I can do that. If you’re craving McDonald’s and you want me to bring it over, dude, I don’t care. I’m here for you and I’ll help out however I can.”
Thomas mentioned he had spent substantial time watching sports activities on tv with Woods. “We are fortunate with the basketball to just hang out,” he mentioned, “and watch sports like we would any normal time.”
