Wednesday 4 April 2018 08:38, UK
Tiger Woods paid a glowing tribute to long-time rival Phil Mickelson after the pair enjoyed a rare practice round together ahead of the Masters.
The relationship between the two was often frosty during the prime of their careers, but Woods revealed their friendship has grown stronger in recent years and that Mickelson was a great help while he was sidelined by his troublesome back problems.
Woods and Mickelson were infamously paired together on the opening day of the Ryder Cup in 2004, but they were beaten twice and have not been partners in team competition since.
But ahead of the first major of the year at Augusta National, Woods expressed his admiration for the left-hander as a competitor and a friend after they teamed up to beat Fred Couples and Thomas Pieters over nine holes on Tuesday.
"Phil and I have been through it for so long and we have been together on these teams long enough," said Woods. "And then when I got hurt and I had to take a different role on the teams, being assistant captain and really trying to help out on the side, how best I possibly could, Phil was great.
"He was trying to help me out when I was trying to make a comeback, my body wasn't feeling very good, and our friendship has got stronger over the years. We have competed a lot of times coming down the stretch in events, and we were joking today about some of the thoughts that transpired here.
"We have gone through it a long time, and the better part of 20 years our friendship has certainly gotten a lot better, and I think it's just age as well. We're at the tail end of our careers, we both know that. He's 47 and I'm 42, and we have had a great 20‑year battle.
"Hopefully we'll have a few more, but we understand where we are in the game now versus where we were in our early 20s, battling for who is going to be No 1, and that was then and certainly this is now."
Asked how their practice round came about, Woods added: "Phil asked Joey if we were free for a game. We were free yesterday, but he was taking the day off. And so Phil and I talked about it and decided to play today.
"We partnered up against Thomas and poor Freddie. It was a long golf course for Fred, but he had a young stud as his partner. But it was good, though, because it was an appearance fee, so we enjoyed it."
Couples had earlier shouldered the blame for what was believed to be a comprehensive defeat, and the 1992 champion said: "They enjoyed beating us badly, I feel bad for Thomas because I couldn't have helped Jack Nicklaus in his prime today, so Thomas had a lot on his shoulders."
Couples also predicted that Woods and Mickelson were playing well enough to be in contention for Masters glory on Sunday, with Woods chasing his fifth win and his first since 2005, while Mickelson is bidding to match Woods' haul of four Green Jackets.
"I think, come Sunday, they might be paired together," Couples added. "They are playing extremely well, they love the course and they're going to do very, very well."
