Tiger Woods is moving closer to a return at the Masters next month after making improvements to his game in recent weeks, according to golfer Notah Begay III.
"As far as Augusta, it's literally a 50-50 chance from what I can tell," Begay told 120 Sports. "I think that's far better odds than what it was three weeks ago.
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Woods, 39, a former world No. 1 and four-time Masters winner, has not played on the PGA Tour since announcing his intention last month to take an indefinite break from golf.
That decision came on the back of injury problems and a notable deterioration in Woods' form around the greens.
Begay, a close friend, said Woods is seeing significant steps in his game. The Masters is the year's first major golf tournament. It begins April 9 at Augusta National Golf Club in Georgia.
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"I think his golf game as a whole is in a great place," Begay said. "I think it was good for him to stay a step back, to reassess a variety of different things and do things on his timeline. My suggestion to him was to take as much time as he needed to just figure out this issue with his short game and also to work on or clean up a couple of things that might be a little loose with his golf swing."
"I think things are really settling. We've had some good discussions over the last week or so and he feels good about it. Three weeks ago I would have said there was maybe a 1-in-10 chance of him playing at Augusta."