Tiger Woods almost gets taken out by Masters security guard

Tiger Woods has battled through a ton of injuries over the past few years just to get to the point where he can contend at the Masters once again. He got lucky on Friday, though, as a run-in with (by?) a security guard could have taken a significantly worse turn.

We all know about the injury history that Tiger Woods has over the years. The wear and tear he put on his body, just to stay on top of his profession, bordered on insanity. Then again, this is the same guy who won the 2018 U.S. Open with essentially no ligaments left in his knee. So holding him to the same standard of us mere mortals probably isn’t fair.

Whatever that case, Woods has made a remarkable comeback in the last 18 months or so, and he found himself firmly in contention on a wet, rainy afternoon at the Masters. He was playing the 14th hole, when a freak accident could have injured his leg. But this wasn’t poor footing in the pine straw or a rock that tumbled as he stepped on it (because that wouldn’t be allowed at Augusta, obviously). No, this was a run-in with a security guard.

Literally. Like, this is the type of stuff you couldn’t make up, especially at a place like Augusta National, where every movement of every blade of grass seems to be perfectly choreographed. Check it out.

I know that the video slowing down there makes it a bit tougher to really tell the severity of what’s happening, but the way Tiger jumps lets you know that he definitely felt it. That’s a scary moment for any player, but of course it’s magnified a thousand times over because of who it happened to, and when.

Tiger was two-under for the round on No. 14 when this happened, despite missing a ton of fairways early on in his round. He was just starting to make a charge up the leaderboard, and for a moment, patrons and viewers had to wonder if this would cause any lingering problems.

It didn’t. Tiger Woods went on to make birdie on 14, then he electrified the masses with a monstrous birdie on the par-5 15th that moved him to within one of the lead. At the time of this writing, he’s on No. 17 and looking to make one last move heading into the third round. One way or another, Tiger is going to be the man to watch at the Masters, just like he has been for most of the last two decades.

We’ll look to have an update on the status of that security guard as soon as the Masters Committee releases him from whatever section of the clubhouse basement he’s likely being held in.