How Tiger Woods reconnected with O'Meara

All it took was a text.

After going two years without seeing each other, Tiger Woods sent long-time pal Mark O’Meara a message Monday morning with a simple question: Have you already played?

“I was hoping he’d reach out to me and he did,” O’Meara said. “I said I was going to come out later in the day and hit some balls and (Tiger) asked if I wanted to play a few holes. I said, ‘Let’s do it,’ then Tiger said, ‘Yeah, let’s do it.’”

The two played nine holes on Monday and teed off at 8:05 a.m. together again this morning.

After months of public scrutiny about Woods’ game – primarily his chipping – O’Meara brushed off the notion that the four-time Masters champion is rusty.

“He didn’t look too rusty to me,” O’Meara said after Monday’s nine holes. “He hit a couple shots that were a little off but he also hit a lot of great quality shots. He hit a bunch of beautiful drives.”

The highlight of Woods’ nine-holes Monday was a three-iron to the par-3 fourth, where he eventually made birdie.

Woods birdied the par-4 fifth hole this morning, drilling around a 12-foot downhill putt to a flagstick positioned at the front of the green.

“I think he’s in a good place right now,” O’Meara said. “He’s glad to be back and healthy and he’s certainly glad to be at Augusta.”

As much as O’Meara praised Tiger’s game, he was equally pleased to reunite with “my little brother.”

After going years without seeing each other, Woods and O’Meara embraced on the practice range Monday afternoon and hugged again after completing the ninth hole.

“I’ve always considered him my little brother and he’s always considered me his older brother,” O’Meara said. “You know, I miss him and I think he feels the same way.

“I care about the kid. He’s been a big positive influence in my life and I’ve tried to be a positive influence in his. I wish that we could spend more time together but obviously I play on a different tour that he does so we don’t get to see each other very much. There’s not many people who have played the game of golf like he’s played it.”