For the first time since 1994, the Masters at Augusta National is being played without either Tiger Woods or Phil Mickelson in the field, and the men who are there say the absence is impossible to ignore.
Woods is out of the country in a rehabilitation facility, tending to what has been described as an addiction to pain killers following a March 27 crash of his SUV in Florida. Mickelson, the three-time Masters champion, is away from competition to be with his family, addressing what he has described as a family health matter. The twin absences have cast a long shadow over Augusta, Georgia, this week, turning practice rounds and pre-tournament gatherings into something closer to a vigil than a celebration.
Defending champion Rory McIlroy, who hosted the annual Champions dinner Tuesday night, planned to acknowledge both men in his remarks. As the New York Post reported, McIlroy spoke Tuesday about the weight of their absence.
"Obviously, there's two that won't be with us this year, which is a shame, but hopefully they will be with us in the future, and I'm sure they will be with us in the future. I want to make sure that they're acknowledged. They've been two of the greatest champions that the Masters has ever seen."
That is the right instinct. Whatever one thinks of Woods' personal conduct, and there is plenty to think about, the man's competitive record at Augusta is not in dispute. Neither is Mickelson's. Their combined stature in the sport is so large that their simultaneous absence registers as a genuine disruption, not just a scheduling note.
Harris English, who credited Woods' 1997 Augusta victory with drawing him into golf in the first place, called the situation "very strange."
"First time since '94, that's wild. I wish both of them were here. We all do. We wish them well and hopefully we can get them back next year."
English also spoke about Woods' resilience. "He's such a legend in this game, somebody I looked up to," he said. "I know he's going to get through this. He has a big fight ahead of him. He's a fighter. That's what he does."
Woods wasn't at Augusta last year either, sidelined then by an Achilles' tear. But this absence carries a different kind of gravity. The March 27 crash in Florida, his second DUI-related incident in roughly a decade, pushed the conversation from injury recovery into something far more personal and far more serious.
Jason Day offered some of the most direct comments about what Woods has been dealing with. Day noted that Woods has undergone an estimated 25 to 30 surgeries over the course of his career, and he connected that history to the pain management challenges that followed.
"He's not immune to it just because he can hit a golf ball really well. He's had 25 to 30-something surgeries, and when you're going through that many procedures, it's painful coming out of those procedures."
Day went further, acknowledging the human cost of living under constant public scrutiny while battling a private struggle.
"When I look at that, I look at it and go, 'He's just a human being like everyone else and we have struggles.' It's hard to see him go through what he's going through, and especially under the microscope. It's really difficult for me to go through that and watch him."
He added: "I know that he's getting the help now, which is good. I'm just hoping he comes out on the other side and is better."
That sentiment, sympathy, tempered by honesty, ran through nearly every interview at Augusta this week. These are competitors, not counselors. But they understand something the broader public sometimes forgets: professional athletes are not exempt from the consequences of chronic pain and the pharmaceutical pathways that follow it.
Two-time Masters winner Bubba Watson, who has known Woods since roughly 2006 or 2007, offered perhaps the most personal testimony. Watson said he has long told Woods that he is pulling for him as a person, not as a golfer.
"I told him from day one that we started hanging out back in '06, '07, somewhere in there, that I'm pulling for him as a human being, forget his golf. I could care less about his golf."
Watson recalled being at Augusta in 2019 when Woods won his fifth green jacket. "We were in the champions locker and I made a lot of the champions come down to congratulate him. That was very emotional," he said.
He also spoke about his own experience with mental health challenges, drawing a connection to what Woods may be going through. "Anybody that's struggling with anything... I feel for him, because I went through a lot of mental stuff," Watson said. "Nothing but love for him, and hopefully he can come back stronger."
The personal fallout from Woods' Florida crash has extended well beyond the golf course. Reports have indicated that those closest to Woods have urged him to get his life in order, underscoring how wide the ripple effects have been.
Fred Couples, a longtime Woods friend, said he believes Woods is "in a place he needs to be." Couples acknowledged he has not spoken to Woods since the crash but said that if he could, "I'd tell him I love him and things can always get better."
Patrick Reed, the 2018 Masters champion, said "everyone is probably in the same boat" in terms of their feelings. "They're just very grateful that he's OK and that everyone else that was involved is OK," Reed said. He added a broader point about the sport itself: "Without Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson in the events... when they both step away, I feel it hurts the game of golf."
Justin Rose echoed that assessment, calling Woods and Mickelson "titans of the game for the last three decades." Rose said their stature "is way more elevated than that in the game of golf and always will be. It's always a loss to not have either of them in a field anywhere."
The players who grew up watching Woods dominate the sport spoke with a particular kind of reverence. Jacob Bridgeman said "everybody has a very soft heart for Tiger" and credited Woods with transforming professional golf's economics and visibility.
"He's been the guy for our game that's changed everything the most. He's made these tournaments what they are, and he's made the purses what they are just by his popularity."
Bridgeman added: "Everybody loved watching him. I grew up watching Tiger. He was my golf idol. I think everybody is thinking about him and hoping he can do what's best."
Chris Gotterup, a Little Silver, New Jersey native, said his "most vivid memory" of the Masters was Woods' 2019 comeback victory. "That's when I really was kind of into golf big time and was trying to play professionally," Gotterup said. "I remember that vividly and watched the whole thing through. It was obviously an amazing story."
The most compelling storyline at the 2027 Masters would be Woods returning to Augusta rehabilitated and ready to compete. Whether that happens depends on decisions being made far from the fairways of Georgia, in a rehabilitation facility, in a country that hasn't been publicly identified, by a man whose body has been through more than two dozen surgeries and whose personal life has been through even more.
Golf will go on this week. The tournament will crown a champion. The azaleas will bloom on schedule. But the players themselves have made clear that something fundamental is missing, not just a competitor, but the competitor who made Augusta what it is for an entire generation.
Accountability matters, even for legends. And so does the grace to let a man get the help he needs before the public demands he perform again.
