Tiger Woods’ chances at Masters 2023: Here’s what Brandel Chamblee, Trevor Immelman, Andy North and more have to say

Forget what will Phil do next? The more intriguing question is: What’s the next trick up Tiger’s sleeves?

Tiger’s opening-round 70 a year ago at Augusta National en route to making the cut was one of the most impressive rounds of 2022 when you consider that it was just some 13 months earlier that he was involved in a near-fatal car accident and could have lost his right leg.

Tiger’s game looked sharp in the first round of the Genesis Invitational at Riviera in February, his lone start in an official PGA Tour event since missing the cut at the British Open in July. It reinvigorated talk about the possibility of a 16th major title for Woods, who has slipped into the winner’s Green Jacket on five occasions, most recently in 2019 at age 43.

Tiger’s quest to get closer to Jack Nicklaus’s record of 18 majors (and six Green Jackets) already has the TV talking heads buzzing. Here’s a snippet of what the CBS, ESPN and Golf Channel analysts had to say:

Brandel Chamblee, Golf Channel

How Tiger plays, I think, will captivate us beyond belief.

Notah Begay, Golf Channel

The fact that he was able to play (at the Genesis Invitational in February) at the level after basically being on the bench for six months, to come out and make a cut, I just can’t even get my mind around that.

Andy North, ESPN

To be able to get around there is so difficult. It’s just — for him it’s such an uphill battle. But in the back of your mind, you still believe that you get something rolling, you just never know.

Curtis Strange, ESPN

It wouldn’t surprise me at all if he got us on the edge of our seat for the first couple of days, but can he sustain it? I think that L.A. kind of just made me look forward more to the Masters because he’s still got something in that body.

Trevor Immelman, CBS

If he somehow finds a way to get his name in and around that leaderboard come the second nine on Sunday afternoon it will be all systems go out there.

Scroll below for their takes on Tiger at the Masters.

Brandel Chamblee, Golf Channel

Tiger Woods plays his shot on the 13th hole during the second round of the 2023 Genesis Invitational in Pacific Palisades, California. (Photo: Gary A. Vasquez-USA TODAY Sports)

How Tiger plays, I think, will captivate us beyond belief, because what I saw earlier in the year from Tiger made me look towards the Masters with great anticipation. I never, ever thought I would see Tiger Woods play golf again the way he played at the Genesis.

Of course you can look at his finish (T-45) and say there was nothing spectacular about it, but if you look at the combination of the power that he had there and so many of the iron shots that he stacked up on top of one another, and the fact that he showed some great putts on the greens, it certainly has the world of golf’s attention as we enter the Masters.

Notah Begay III, Golf Channel