Tiger Woods: "The Masters? God, I hope so"

• golf

Tiger Woods says he's doesn't know when he will return from a fifth back surgery, and he could not give a definitive answer Sunday when asked if he would be at the Masters. “God, I hope so,” Woods on the CBS broadcast of The Genesis Invitational.

Woods, at Riviera to hand out the trophy as the tournament host, had a microdiscectomy Dec. 23. It was the fifth surgery on his back, and the first since a procedure to fuse his lower spine in April 2017.

Tiger Woods, statements

“I'm feeling fine,” Woods said.

“I'm a little bit stiff. I have one more MRI scheduled so that we'll see if the annulus (fibrosus) is scarred over finally and see if I can start doing more activities. But still in the gym, still doing the mundane stuff that you have to do for rehab, the little things before I can start gravitating towards something a little more." Woods has not played since he joined 11-year-old Charlie at the PNC Challenge a few days before his surgery.

“I don't know what the plan is,” he said when asked if he would try to play before the Masters. Meanwhile, revelations of Bubba Watson: "I no longer need to hide that I am a man with some problems and that sometimes cries.

There are ups and downs in life and I am not ashamed to admit it." The American golfer can also boast two career triumphs (in 2012 and 2014) at The Masters. And that now, on the eve of The Genesis Invitational, an event of the PGA Tour until Sunday in California (which Watson has already won three times, the last in 2018), he wanted to talk about his sufferings.

Caused by an attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD), as well as anxiety problems, which has led to many teasing in the past. "He hurt me - admits the 42 year old from Baghdad (Florida) - but now I have learned to know and manage myself".

A suffering that has been part of his life for a long time, which got worse two years ago. When Watson couldn't sleep, he lost weight and feared for his life. "I thought I was going to die, but I never stopped fighting". He was also and above all helped by golf. A sport, his sport, considered perfect for those suffering from ADHD.