THE IMMIGRATION bureau is anticipating an influx of arriving and departing passengers starting this weekend as the Philippines observes the Lenten holiday, the first in two years with eased travel restrictions due to the global coronavirus pandemic.
As such, immigration officers assigned at international airports across the country have been prohibited from going on leave during and after the Holy Week to ensure sufficient manpower to serve the traveling public during the break, according to the Bureau of Immigration (BI).
“Normally there is always a rise in the volume of arriving passengers before the Holy Week and increase in the number of departing passengers after the Lenten break,” BI Port Operations Divisions Carlos B. Capulong said in a statement on Thursday.
Mr. Capulong noted that apart from Filipinos who will be traveling abroad or coming home, the country has also opened its borders to vaccinated foreign tourists from all countries.
Data from the bureau show that passenger arrivals at the airport has been averaging at 13,000 to 15,000 daily in April, up from 6,000 to 9,000 in March.
The Department of Tourism (DoT) reported on Tuesday that more than 186,000 foreign tourists have arrived since border reopening on Feb. 10 for non-visa countries, and for all countries effective April 1.
The tourism sector’s contribution to the country’s economy in 2019 was 12.8%. This dropped to 5.4% the following year due to the global pandemic.
DoT said that over a million workers in the tourism industry were affected by the pandemic. — John Victor D. Ordoñez
THE SUGAR Regulatory Administration (SRA) should stop its plan for a new round of importation after two regional courts ruled against a similar program, said a senator whose help has been sought by growers.
“Our local sugar farmers are again approaching our office, deeply concerned over talks of a new SRA proposal that would green-light the importation of 350,000 metric tons of sugar into the country,” Majority Leader Juan Miguel F. Zubiri said in a statement on Thursday.
This comes after two regional courts issued separate rulings against Sugar Order No. 3 in February, which sought to import 200,000 metric tons of sugar, noting that it will cause “grave and irreparable injury” to local producers.
“Our courts have already landed on the side of our sugar farmers last February, so it’s disheartening that we are having the same conversation about importation again,” the senator said.
“Lest the SRA will be accused of this being a midnight deal bereft of propriety and due process. They should not allow this while our farmers are harvesting their crops,” he added.
Mr. Zubiri noted that the proposed importation deal will put local farmers at a gross disadvantage, particularly at a time when they are still dealing with setbacks caused by the coronavirus pandemic and spiraling fertilizer prices.
“Instead of this importation program, let us focus on delivering much-needed assistance to our farmers, and let us find ways to boost local production not just of crops, but of fertilizers as well,” he said. — Alyssa Nicole O. Tan
A SOLON said on Thursday that it could be time to reassess the country’s tobacco tax law alongside a review of the government’s efforts against smuggling.
“Is there such a thing as over taxation, to the point that we are actually rewarding smugglers, because of the huge taxation?” PBA Party-list Rep. Jericho Jonas B. Nograles said in a mix of English and Filipino at an online conference.
“There’s always a debate when it comes to taxing sin products,” he said.
Republic Act 11346, signed in July 2019, increased taxes on so-called “sin” products such as tobacco, e-cigarettes, and sweetened and alcoholic beverages.
Mr. Nograles, a member of the House Ways and Means committee, said there is a possible link between increasing tax rates for tobacco and smuggling, citing a study that shows that for every 10% tax increase, there is a 7% increase in illicit trade.
“As far as policies are concerned, I think the policies are there. We are in the middle of adjusting our enforcement, improving our enforcement,” he said.
“And the first thing that the smugglers and illicit traders would really exploit are the loopholes… between the different agencies. Hence, the technical working group’s first recommendation, as I presented earlier, is for the agencies to talk to each other so that we can streamline (rules against smuggling).” — Jaspearl Emerald G. Tan
BRUSSELS — Ukraine will keep up demands for an oil and gas embargo on Russia after its invasion of the country, the Ukrainian foreign minister said on Thursday, as the European Union (EU) promised a fifth round of sanctions by Friday.
Dmytro Kuleba will address NATO’s 30 allies, as well as the European Union, Finland, Sweden, Japan, New Zealand and Australia, in a special session of foreign ministers to maintain international support for sanctions and weapons supplies.
“We will continue to insist on full oil and gas embargo,” he told reporters at NATO, speaking alongside Secretary-General Jens Stoltenberg.
“I think the deal that Ukraine is offering is fair. You give us weapons, we sacrifice our lives, and the war is contained in Ukraine,” he said.
Mr. Kuleba called on Germany in particular to speed up weapons’ deliveries to Ukraine, asking for planes, land-based anti-ship missiles, armored vehicles and air defense systems. He said procedures were taking too long in Berlin.
German Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock, who offered to hold another meeting of NATO foreign ministers in May in Berlin, said she would discuss more arms sales to Ukraine with allies on Thursday in Brussels.
After more than 40 days of war, Ukraine says Russia continues to shell its cities, particularly in the eastern regions of Kharkiv, Donetsk and Luhansk after Russian forces withdrew from around Kyiv.
Moscow calls its actions in Ukraine a “special military operation.”
Mr. Stoltenberg on Wednesday warned of a war that could last months or even years and US Secretary of State Anthony Blinken pledged support to Ukraine for the longer term.
Outrage over civilians killings in the Ukrainian town of Bucha near Kyiv appears to have galvanized Western support.
But while a possible EU ban on Russian oil and gas would cut off a significant source of revenue for Moscow’s war, it would also hit Europe’s economy and push up soaring gas prices.
EU foreign policy chief Josep Borrell said that a fifth package of EU sanctions, which include a ban on coal, would be agreed on Thursday or Friday. “We have been following a progressive approach. Now we are accelerating,” he told reporters.
Canadian Foreign Minister Melanie Joly said further Western sanctions could not be ruled out, including an energy embargo, after the United States and Britain announced new measures on Russian banks on Wednesday and on members of Mr. Putin’s family.
Australia’s Foreign Minister Marise Payne said at NATO that Australia was imposing sanctions on 67 Russians over Moscow’s invasion of Ukraine. — Reuters
AN EMPLOYEE holds 1000 Russian rouble notes at Goznak printing factory in Moscow, Russia, July 11, 2019. — REUTERS
WASHINGTON — As the world’s wealthy democratic powers roll out new sanctions against Russia in response to horrifying images of executed Ukrainians in the city of Bucha, it has become clear that the easiest options are now exhausted and stark differences have emerged among allies over next steps.
The European Union proposed a first stab at curbing Russia’s energy sector in response to its invasion of Ukraine launched in February, banning imports of Russian coal. But EU countries remain divided even over this move, much less restricting imports of Russian oil and gas that are more important to their economies.
The United States and Group of Seven (G7) allies announced new sanctions on Russia’s largest lender, Sberbank, more state-owned enterprises and more Russian government officials and their family members, cutting them out of the US dollar-based financial system.
The United States also has banned Americans from new investment in Russia and barred Moscow from paying sovereign debt holders with money in US banks.
Although Russia’s heavily restricted rouble rallied to a six-week high on Wednesday, US Treasury officials say the sanctions are starting to turn Russia back into an austere, 1980s Soviet-style closed economy.
But the US sanctions contain carve-outs allowing Russia to continue collecting revenue from energy exports, which can help fuel its Ukraine invasion. US Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen told US lawmakers on Wednesday that stronger curbs on Russian energy are not yet possible for European allies dependent on Russian oil and gas.
Russia supplies around 40% of the European Union’s natural gas consumption, which the International Energy Agency values at more than $400 million per day. The EU gets a third of its oil imports from Russia, about $700 million per day.
“We are at the point where we have to take some pain,” said Benn Steil, international economics director for the Council on Foreign Relations think tank in New York. “The initial batches of sanctions were crafted as much to not hurt us in the West as much as they were to hurt Russia.”
The divisions in Europe have become more apparent this week. After Lithuania announced on Saturday it would stop importing Russian gas for domestic consumption, Austrian Finance Minister Magnus Brunner voiced opposition to sanctions on Russian oil and gas, telling reporters in Luxembourg that these would hurt Austria more than Russia.
NEXT STEPS Lack of unity on curbing energy imports means that options are limited to increase pressure further, but the investment ban announced on Wednesday could push more multinational firms to leave Russia, said Daniel Tannebaum, a former compliance officer at the Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control.
“You could outright start banning trade in more industries,” a move that would cut Russians off from more types of Western products such as pharmaceuticals, similar to a luxury goods ban imposed in the early days of the war, said Mr. Tannebaum, who leads consulting firm Oliver Wyman’s anti-financial crime practice.
The United States has been pushing European allies to inflict more pain on Russia while trying to make sure that the alliance against President Vladimir Putin does not fray, a balance that only gets tougher.
“You’ve kind of hit the ceiling — on both sides of the Atlantic — for what can be done easily and what can be done in short order,” said Clayton Allen, US director at the Eurasia Group political risk consultancy, referring to the sanctions.
To move to a tougher round of sanctions, US officials will need to provide some assurances to European countries that energy markets and supplies can be stabilized to avoid severe economic hardship, Mr. Allen said. An economically weakened EU helps no one, Mr. Allen added.
“If Western Europe is plunged into a recession, that’s going to drastically limit the amount of support – both moral and material – that they can provide to Ukraine,” Allen said.
U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken is expected to press the case for more actions in Brussels this week at NATO and G7 meetings of foreign ministers. U.S. Deputy Treasury Secretary Wally Adeyemo held similar meetings last week in London, Brussels, Paris and Berlin.
There also are still loopholes to close, including continued sales by German and French companies into Russia, and the ongoing hunt for luxury yachts and other assets parked by Russian oligarchs, according to one European diplomat involved in sanctions talks. — Reuters
HONG KONG has ceased to function as an international aviation hub as it curbs inbound flights and quarantines arriving passengers, according to a trade group representing hundreds of airlines worldwide.
“It’s effectively off the map now, and I think it’s going to be difficult for Hong Kong to recover,” Willie Walsh, director general of the International Air Transport Association, said at a briefing Wednesday. “It’s going to lag significantly behind the recovery that we’re seeing elsewhere and has led to a tough time for all airlines operating there.”
Even the city’s shortened isolation requirements for arriving passengers — quarantine was halved to one week this month — will deter travelers, Mr. Walsh said.
The IATA chief said that with much of the rest of Asia reopening he remained optimistic Hong Kong could start to relax its border restrictions.
However, Hong Kong is still banning flights even after rolling back some of the world’s strictest inbound travel curbs. There’s been increasing frustration over the city’s closure for much of the past two years due to pandemic restrictions.
“The restrictions there have been very severe and have led directly to the cancellation of a lot of services with airlines — effectively finding it incredibly difficult, if not impossible to operate there,” added Mr. Walsh.
IATA has warned places that continue to attempt to lock out the disease, rather than managing it, risk missing out on enormous economic and societal benefits through the restoration of international travel. The group represents almost 300 airlines accounting for 83% of global air traffic.
Singapore Airlines Ltd., Emirates, Cathay Pacific Airways Ltd., Qatar Airways QCSC, Korean Air Lines Co. and Malaysia Airlines were slapped with week-long bans this month after breaching Hong Kong’s so-called circuit-breaker mechanism. A stoppage can be meted out if three or more coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) cases are found on the same flight, or if there’s one confirmed infection and another non-compliant passenger.
Hong Kong eased a raft of travel measures on April 1, including lifting an outright ban on inbound flights from nine countries, including the US, the UK and Australia, and reduced quarantine for inbound travelers to one week.
Mr. Walsh said the feedback IATA was getting from airlines was that quarantine remained discouraging, and people would not fly in the current environment unless they really had to. — Bloomberg
EU HEALTH AGENCIES said on Wednesday there was no evidence to support the use of a fourth dose of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccines developed by Pfizer and Moderna in the general population, but they recommend a second booster for people aged 80 and above.
There is no clear evidence in the European Union (EU) that vaccine protection against severe disease is waning substantially in adults with normal immune systems aged 60-79, the European Medicines Agency (EMA) and the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) said in a joint statement.
They cautioned, however, that it may become necessary to consider a fourth dose in this age group if the epidemiological situation changes.
Both agencies agreed a fourth dose can be given to adults 80 years of age and above.
That recommendation came a week after European health ministers urged the bloc’s executive to back a fourth COVID-19 shot for people over 60 to boost immunity in the absence of vaccines that specifically protect against the Omicron variant.
A study from Israel has shown that senior citizens who received a second booster of the Pfizer–BioNTech COVID-19 vaccination had a 78% lower mortality rate from the disease than those who had only one.
The agencies said there was no conclusive evidence of “an added value of a fourth dose” in those aged below 60.
The agencies will consider the best timing for additional doses, possibly taking advantage of updated vaccines when re-vaccination campaigns start in the autumn. — Reuters
MERALCO coach Norman Black has seen so many battles to get carried away by the Bolts’ 104-91 opening triumph against Barangay Ginebra in the Philippine Basketball Association (PBA) Governors’ Cup finals.
Neither does he get excited by the historical figures that say Game 1 victors went on to win the best-of-seven series in 60 out of 88 instances.
“We got the first game. But I’m going to look at the second game like it’s 0-0 and we have to get the second game,” said Mr. Black.
“I’ll have to make sure that my players are prepared for Game 2, try to anticipate the adjustments they might make and find a few adjustments we can make also.”
His players understand the situation well.
“It’s just one quarter lang kung baga sa championship (match) so we’re still not celebrating this win. Talagang goal namin is to get the four wins and mag-champion,” said Allein Maliksi, Meralco’s top scorer with 22 highlighted by a sizzling 5-of-7 three-point clip in Wednesday’s series kickoff.
The Bolts gun for a 2-0 lead tonight at the MOA Arena in a 6 p.m. tiff that Black expects to be “very exciting” following the heated altercation between his player Raymar Jose and Ginebra’s Arvin Tolentino in the dying seconds.
The two former FEU stalwarts continued their tussle near their respective dugouts and almost came to blows. Messrs. Tolentino and Jose face possible sanction from the Commissioner’s Office for their actions.
Meralco drew first blood in Part IV of its titular showdown with three-time tormentor Ginebra using a relentless defense complemented by a well-oiled offense.
The Bolts forced the usually efficient Justin Brownlee to seven-of-20 shooting (35%) and pouncing on the absence of Japeth Aguilar (calf), dropped 52 points inside the paint and won the rebounding battle, 48-44.
“We really have to match their intensity, physicality and aggressiveness because this series will be dictated by who wants it more,” noted Ginebra skipper LA Tenorio, who himself was held to five points in Game 1.
Mr. Tenorio shared that coach Tim Cone summed it best in his post-game talk.
“He said hindi ito yung team na nakilala niya na naglaro for the past playoff games (against TNT and NLEX). I agree with that. Offensively and defensively, we’re out of whack and playing against a motivated Meralco team, we can’t afford to do that.”
For Brownlee, it’s imperative that Ginebra does a better job defending the lanes as well as Mr. Maliksi’s long bombs next time.“If we could do that defensively and we keep moving the ball and looking for better looks and really focus on converting our shots, we’ll be okay,” he said.
Ginebra’s resident import isn’t losing faith in his never-say-die teammates. “No series has been decided off one game. They set the tone but I think we can move forward, make adjustments and see where it goes from there,” said Mr. Brownlee.
PHUKET, Thailand — Reigning Southeast Asian Games flyweight champion Rogen Ladon guns for at least a silver finish even as four other Filipino boxers aim for the same in the 2022 Thailand Open International Boxing Tournament on Friday at the luxurious Angsana Laguna Phuket Resort Hotel here.
Mr. Ladon takes on hometown bet Thanarat Saengphet in the men’s fly semifinals scheduled as the opening match of the afternoon session starting at 1 p.m. (2 p.m. in Manila) while Ian Clark Bautista (men’s feather), Riza Pasuit (women’s light), Aira Villegas (women’s fly) and Hergie Bacyadan (women’s middle) face separate opponents.
The Asian Games and Asian Championships silver winner Mr. Ladon earned a bye to the quarterfinals where he overwhelmed Po-Wei Tu of Chinese Taipei, 5-0, on Wednesday.
He now goes up against the 2021 AIBA World Championships bronze medalist Mr. Saengphet who narrowly beat world title holder Saken Bibossinov of Kazakhstan through a 3-2 split decision.
Mr. Ladon, 28, is not taking the much younger Mr. Saengphet (19) lightly even though he already caught a glimpse of the Thai fighter’s potential as the two were sparring partners in the pre-tournament training camp held in Muak Lek District just outside Bangkok.
On the other hand, Mr. Bautista fought all the way from the preliminaries to the semis where he meets Nguyen Van Duong of Vietnam, a silver finisher in the 2019 SEA Games (SEAG).
The SEA Games bronze medalist Mr. Bautista first demolished Cheng Wei Lee of Chinese Taipei, 5-0, then outclassed Alex Mukuka of New Zealand, 4-0, in the quarterfinals.
Mr. Pasuit, who captured a silver in the SEAG held in Manila almost three years ago, squares off against Punam Rawal of Nepal after battering Zann Chee Wai Yee of Singapore, 5-0, in the quarters.
SEAG bronze winner Ms. Villegas clashes against Nillada Meekon of Thailand following dominant 5-0 victories over Novita Sinadia of India and fellow PH campaigner Mary Sinadjan.
Young boxer Bacyadan, for her part, got a bye to the semis where she tests her mettle against Bhagyabati Kachari of India, who scored a 5-0 win against Pornnipa Chutee of Thailand.
Leading the national boxing team’s campaign in this prestigious Thailand Open is coach Don Abnett together with coaches Ronald Chavez, Reynaldo Galido, Roel Velasco and Mitchel Martinez.
A total of 14 Filipino pugilists joined the event including former world champion Josie Gabuco and Tokyo Olympics campaigner Irish Magno. Unfortunately, Gabuco, Magno and the seven other nationals were still finding their rhythm after a long layoff due to COVID lockdowns resulting in their early exit in the tournament.
“All our boxers are still trying to shake off the cobwebsafter two years of not seeing any international competition but they’re slowly getting their rhythm back”, said ABAP president Ed Picson.
“It also helped that they had a two-week training stint in Muaklek, outside of Bangkok, just before the competition and we’re sending them back there right after this for another camp in preparation for the SEA Games in Vietnam and the Women’s World Championships in Turkey next month,” he added.
World champion Nesthy Petecio and fellow Tokyo Olympics silver medalist Carlo Paalam are also here in Thailand but skipped the competition and only joined the training camp.
The Thailand Open, organized by the Thailand Boxing Association headed by its president Pichai Chunhavajira who is also the Asian Boxing Confederation (ASBC) president and joined by top-tier athletes from various countries, is part of the PH boxing squad’s preparations for its overall title defense in the upcoming 31st Southeast Asian Games slated in Hanoi, Vietnam next month.
Seasoned boxing official Karina Picson is serving as the Technical Delegate while 3-star international referee-judge Jonathan Jimenez is working as one of the Technical Officials of the tournament which will award prize money to the podium finishers.
LONDON — A hat trick by veteran striker Karim Benzema, including two fine headed goals in the space of three first-half minutes, earned Real Madrid a 3-1 win at reigning European champions Chelsea in their Champions League quarterfinal first leg on Wednesday.
Benzema, 34, claimed his hat-trick when he pounced on an error by Chelsea goalkeeper Edouard Mendy just after half time to put the Spaniards in control of the tie before Tuesday’s second leg in Madrid.
Kai Havertz had restored some hope to the Blues when he headed in an angled pass from Jorginho in the 40th minute to make it 2-1.
But Chelsea’s chances of a comeback were undone by Mendy’s mistake in the 46th minute when, outside his box, he tried to pass to Antonio Rudiger only for Benzema to intercept and steer the ball into an empty net for his 37th goal of the season.
The France striker rocked Chelsea when he converted pinpoint crosses with headers, first from Vinicius, Jr. from the left in the 21st minute and then from Luka Modric on the right in the 24th, leaving Mendy with no chance on either occasion.
Benzema had looked certain to claim his hat trick just before halftime but he fired wide with Chelsea’s usually rock-solid defence looking ragged.
“They’re very important goals. I’m happiest to have scored the third as I missed one in the first half and I was thinking about that chance because it’s very important to score goals. Then I got another and I’m very happy,” Benzema told Spanish television.
“Today we came out to win, to show we’re Real Madrid. Things worked out well for us as we played well, from the first minute to the last.”
The Spaniards were seeking revenge after the Londoners eliminated them in last season’s semifinals before the Blues won the trophy in Porto.
There was an early warning sign for the Londoners when Vinicius, Jr. cracked a shot against the bar in the 10th minute.
Chelsea sought to fight back in the second half with the best chance falling to substitute Romelu Lukaku — Chelsea’s record signing who has struggled to fit in at Stamford Bridge — but he headed narrowly wide as a deflected ball dropped to him on the edge of the six-yard box in the 69th minute.
In the dying moments, Hakim Ziyech, also on as a sub, fired over from 13 yards.
Real — who has been crowned European champions 13 times but had never previously beaten Chelsea — is now in pole position to advance into the semifinals to face either Manchester City or crosstown rival Atletico Madrid.
Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti, who spent two years as Chelsea head coach and led the Blues to the Premier League and FA Cup double in the 2009/10 season, hailed his team’s control of the game and the danger they posed on the counterattack.
“It was a good night but it is only the first half of this round,” he was quoted as saying by the BBC.
Chelsea’s defeat adds to a sense of turmoil with the club put up for sale by Roman Abramovich after Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, which Moscow calls a “special military operation.”
The Russian billionaire has been sanctioned by the British government.
Chelsea coach Thomas Tuchel said his team had been way off the levels he expects.
“You cannot expect a result from this kind of performance,” he told reporters. — Reuters
VILLARREAL, Spain — Villarreal stunned six times European Cup winner Bayern Munich with a deserved 1-0 win after creating a hatful of chances in a frantic Champions League quarterfinal first leg on Wednesday.
In the end, Nigerian-born Dutch forward Arnaut Danjuma’s eighth minute strike gave Unai Emery’s side a slender lead for the second leg at the Allianz Arena in Munich next Tuesday.
Villarreal took the game to Bayern and should probably have won by a larger margin given their clear opportunities.
The Europa League holders suffocated Julian Nagelsmann’s team, who struggled to find their touch in the final third, and were a constant menace to keeper Manuel Neuer on the counter.
Villarreal had a Francis Coquelin effort chalked off by VAR for offside while Gerard Moreno almost scored twice — first with a long-range strike that hit the post and later trying to lob Neuer with an effort from inside his own half that went wide.
Danjuma and Alfonso Pedraza wasted two clear chances in the last few minutes, missing the target from inside the area.
“Our team is very hungry and humble,” Man-of-the-Match Giovani Lo Celso told Movistar Plus. “But we faced one of the best teams in the world and we go out with the sensation that we should have scored several more goals.
“We knew that we needed to shorten the field for them — they are a team that can’t have spaces to work the ball. We played our game, we are a team that always try to be the protagonist and we had a lot of opportunities to win by a bigger margin.”
Villarreal coach Unai Emery has won a record four Europa League titles — three with Sevilla — and his current side look to have inherited his DNA and adapted it to the Champions League in their efforts to compete toe-to-toe with the leading clubs.
They eliminated Juventus in the last 16 and have now shocked Bayern, who was unbeaten in this year’s competition and tasted their first Champions League defeat away from home since 2017.
The buildup to Villarreal’s winner started with Moreno, who is the heart and soul of the Yellow Submarine.
He received the ball close to the right touchline and played it through to Lo Celso whose low cross was struck first time by Dani Parejo. Neuer looked to have it covered but Danjuma got there first and stroked the ball home from close range.
“We know that it will be a completely different game in Germany,” captain Parejo told reporters.
“We had at least five opportunities to score, they didn’t create a single one. That says a lot about what we are capable of. So we will go there and compete with the same passion.” — Reuters
AUGUSTA, GA — Five-times champion Tiger Woods put the finishing touches to his preparations for this week’s Masters by playing nine holes at Augusta National on Wednesday ahead of his highly-anticipated return to competition.
Woods, who suffered career-threatening leg injuries in a February 2021 car crash, arrived at Augusta National early and played the back nine along with 1992 Masters champion Fred Couples and world number seven Justin Thomas.
The scene more resembled the final round of a major rather than a pre-tournament practice as patrons lined the course from tee to green to catch a glimpse of Woods, who 14 months ago many thought would never compete again.
At the par-three 16th, which is played entirely over water, the trio delighted the patrons as they took part in a Masters practice round tradition and simultaneously attempted to skip their balls across the pond fronting the green.
Couples, the only member of the trio to pull off the trick shot and hit the green, said after the round that Woods was hitting the ball plenty far enough to play Augusta National and looked even sharper than he did earlier in the week.
“Tiger is Tiger. I said it on Monday that he’s not like a lot of us where I’ve been injured even at age 35 and I go play just to play,” Couples said.
“He’s not going to do that. He’s won so many times, and he’s just not a guy to go do something mediocre. He’ll compete, and he’ll be ready to roll.”
Woods, 46, arrived at Augusta National on Sunday and played the back nine in a bid to help him decide whether he would play in the year’s first major this week. He played the front nine on Monday with good friends Couples and Thomas.
The 15-times major champion said on Tuesday that not only did he intend to play this week but that he thinks he can win.
Victory for Woods would make him the oldest Masters champion by three weeks over 18-times major winner Jack Nicklaus, who collected his record sixth Green Jacket in 1986.
Woods staged one of the most remarkable comebacks in professional sport when, at 43, he won the Masters in 2019 after enduring years of surgery and personal problems that convinced many the best golfer of his generation was done.
Woods is scheduled to begin his first round on Thursday at 10:34 a.m. ET (1434 GMT), which will mark his first competitive round in 508 days, in a group with South African Louis Oosthuizen and Chilean Joaquin Niemann. — Reuters
