Video of Tiger Woods Hitting Ball Picker During Driving Masters Range Session Goes Viral

Tiger Woods returned to the public spotlight this week at Augusta National, drawing in massive crowds to his practice round ahead of the 2022 Masters on Monday.

On Tuesday, he drew the interest of golf fans once again, but this time for a slightly more trivial reason. 

During a driving range session, Woods entertained those in attendance by hitting a perfect wedge shot that made contact with the range’s ball picker. A clang could be heard on the broadcast when the ball hit the picker and elicited a few laughs from the crowd standing nearby.

Video of Woods during his practice session started to make the rounds on social media shortly after. Fans were thrilled to see that the 15-time major champion is just like the casual golfer, taking aim at the elusive driving range ball picker.

Woods made his official intentions for the week known on Tuesday, saying that he plans to play in the 2022 Masters during his press conference. The five-time tournament champion made clear that he believes he can win again at Augusta National, despite not having played since he had surgery to repair his right leg and ankle after a February 2021 car crash.

“I can hit it just fine. I don’t have any qualms about what I can do physically from a golf standpoint,” he said. “It’s now walking is the hard part. This is normally not an easy walk to begin with (at Augusta), now given the conditions that my leg is in, it gets even more difficult.

“You know, 72 holes is a long road, and it’s going to be a challenge and a challenge that I’m up for.”