Tiger’s Not Lacking Energy

It’s bad news for everybody except Tiger Woods. He isn’t tired.

Woods says one of the reasons for his eight-tournament nonwinning streak was his schedule last year, which required more than 27,000 miles of travel to four continents over an eight-week span.

“My problem [was] I played too much at the end of the year,” he said. “That put a toll on my body.

“I came out [this year] and I wasn’t as energetic as I should have been. That’s not saying I wasn’t trying. But when your energy level is not quite what it should be, sometimes it is a little more difficult.”

Woods played practice rounds at Augusta National on Monday and Tuesday in the rain and said the soaking the course received may make it play easier. He said if it continues to be humid, the fairways will stay soft and the greens will be receptive.

If not?

“If we get cool air coming through here, just like we did last year, it dried things up on the weekend and made things pretty interesting.”

Woods plays the first two rounds with Mikko Ilonen and Mike Weir. Ilonen, 21, of Finland, is the British Amateur champion.

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Lee Westwood withdrew, waiting for his wife, Laurae, to give birth to their first child. Westwood made the announcement from his home in Worksop, England.

“I delayed my decision as long as possible,” he said.

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Greg Puga, a Bel-Air caddie who made the Masters field as the U.S. Mid-Amateur champion, has been playing practice rounds at Augusta National since Thursday.

That’s long enough to have an opinion on the toughest holes. Said Puga, “All of them.”