Will Zalatoris has revealed he received some stick from Tiger Woods after the 15-time major champion outdrove him on a couple holes during their Masters practice round together.
Woods is back at Augusta National this week in preparation for the 2024 Masters with plenty of mystery around his fitness levels.
The 48-year-old came into the new season with plenty of optimism about playing multiple events, but he's not been seen since withdrawing midway through the second round of the Genesis Invitational.
Getting ready for the Masters has always been Woods' goal and he reportedly played a practice round recently with Augusta club chairman Fred Ridley and Justin Thomas to get a feel for the course.
And he made his first public appearance in nearly two months when he stepped onto the 10th tee with Zalatoris for the start of his practice round.
Hundreds of patrons could be seen huddling around to catch a glimpse of Woods despite the tournament not getting underway until Thursday.
Speaking after their nine holes together, Zalatoris gave a small insight into how Woods was playing out on the course and the pair even shared some banter with one another.
“He played great today,” Zalatoris said.
"He outdrove me a couple of times so there was some chirping going on.
"With everything he's gone through, it's pretty amazing to see how good he's swinging it."
Woods is aiming to make the cut at the Masters for a record-breaking 24th consecutive year.
He's currently tied with Gary Player and Fred Couples after making the cut last year, before withdrawing ahead of the third round due to plantar fasciitis.
Zalatoris added: “You could just sit there and analyze the same stats for his entire career and put him in five different buckets and every one of them is never going to be broken.
The biggest question mark for Woods heading into this week will be whether his body can make it through four days on a hilly Augusta course.
Speaking last week, Woods' longtime friend Notah Begay revealed the golf legend has 'zero mobility' in his left ankle.
"He’s trying to formulate a strategy and approach that he can work within given the constraints that he’s presented with. And he’s got some constraints," Begay said.
"He’s got zero mobility in that left ankle and really has low-back challenges now, which he knew he was going to have.
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“For the past couple months, he’s been trying to find a way to recover.
"He can play the golf. We always knew the question was going to be ‘Can he walk the 72 (holes)?’
"That’s still up in the air. But can he recover, from one round to the next?
"That’s the biggest question that I really don’t know and he’s not going to know either until he gets out there and figures out whether the way he’s prepared for this year’s Masters is going to work for him.”
