OPINION: What does the Masters mean for SA golf and Tiger Woods? | The Citizen

And so another Masters tournament has come and gone and South Africa’s wait for another Major title continues.

And, is this the end of Tiger Woods?

It was another enthralling tournament, won by the brilliant Jon Rahm, who was superb in tough conditions in a tournament hit by bad weather.

READ MORE: Rahm wins Masters as lone SA player Schwartzel trails home

The two big talking points going into the event were whether the beaten and bruised Woods could make the halfway cut and if so, challenge for the title, and how things would unfold between the PGA Tour players and “rebels” on the LIV Golf Tour.

Well, Woods had an up-and-down time of it and withdrew a few holes into his third round after making the cut, citing plantar fasciitis as the reason.

Before the tournament started Woods said he wasn’t sure if this year’s event would be his last, but I think if we are to see the world’s best ever golfer feature again at Augusta it’s going to be after more time off to sort out a plethora of issues.

Woods may well decide enough is enough, and that the time has come to accept his fate. The reality is he is fortunate to have played any golf at all after his car crash of a few years ago.

PGA-LIV rift

And what about the rift between the PGA Tour men and the LIV golfers? Well, I really enjoyed watching the likes of Brooks Koepka challenging for the title, and how good was Phil Mickelson, at age 52, to be right up there at the end?

We may not all agree on what some players do and what decisions they take, and where they decide to play their golf, but all they want to do is play golf and be competitive. And it was great seeing all the best in the game playing together again.

I really wish this “war” between the tours would just get sorted out.

SA players

Finally, SA’s only three men at Augusta — Louis Oosthuizen (who withdrew injured), Charl Schwartzel (tied 50th) and amateur Aldrich Potgieter (missed cut) — all bombed. How very disappointing.

Until next year and the 88th Masters. The good news is we’ve got three more Majors to come this year.