Tiger Woods turned 50 on Tuesday, making the 15-time main championship winner eligible to compete on the PGA Tour Champions circuit as soon as he recovers from his newest well being setbacks.
Woods hasn’t publicly mentioned whether or not he intends to play on the previous Senior PGA Tour, which permits golfers to make use of carts and has a 54-hole format at most tournaments exterior of the 72-hole majors.
This previous season was the primary time Woods did not compete in a single match on the PGA Tour. He was scheduled to compete within the Genesis Invitational however pulled out, saying he wasn’t able to compete after the demise of his mom, Kultida, on Feb. 4.
Then Woods ruptured his left Achilles tendon in March whereas ramping up coaching and follow at residence in Florida for the Masters. He had what’s believed to be his seventh again surgical procedure Oct. 10 to interchange a disk in his decrease again that brought about ache and mobility points.
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Throughout a information convention on the Hero World Problem within the Bahamas on Dec. 2, Woods mentioned he had solely just lately began placing and chipping and wasn’t near with the ability to take full swings.
„As soon as I get a really feel for practising, exploding, enjoying, the restoration course of, then I can assess the place I will play and the way a lot I am going to play,“ Woods mentioned. „I am a methods away from that a part of it and that sort of determination, that sort of dedication stage.“
If not for Woods‘ myriad accidents, he’d most likely nonetheless have loads of aggressive golf left in him after reaching the half-century mark. Phil Mickelson turned the oldest main championship winner at 50 when he received the 2021 PGA Championship at Kiawah Island, South Carolina.
Accidents have been Woods‘ greatest impediment in recent times. He has competed in solely 11 PGA Tour tournaments previously 5 seasons since struggling severe accidents in a single-car wreck exterior Los Angeles in February 2021. Woods had a number of „open fractures“ to his decrease proper leg, and he had a rod positioned in his tibia and screws and pins inserted in his foot and ankle throughout emergency surgical procedure. He later instructed reporters that surgeons practically needed to amputate his proper leg.
After pulling out of the 2023 Masters earlier than a Sunday restart following climate delays, Woods mentioned he had aggravated plantar fasciitis in his foot. He underwent surgical procedure 10 days later to handle post-traumatic arthritis in his proper ankle, then had a microdecompression surgical procedure of the lumbar backbone for nerve impingement within the decrease again in September 2024.
Woods final competed in a PGA Tour occasion in July 2024, when he missed the minimize on the Open Championship at Royal Troon Golf Membership in Scotland. He hasn’t performed 4 rounds in an official match since ending sixtieth within the 2024 Masters.
The 82-time PGA Tour winner’s final top-20 end in a significant got here within the 2019 Masters, which he received to gather his fifth inexperienced jacket.
„I might like to return again to only enjoying golf once more,“ Woods mentioned within the Bahamas earlier this month. „I have never performed golf in a very long time. It has been a tricky 12 months. I’ve had numerous issues occur on and off the golf course that is been powerful. And so my ardour [is] to only play, I have never achieved that in a very long time.“
Even with Woods recovering from his newest setbacks, his mates on the PGA Tour are ribbing him about reaching 50.
„I knew he was outdated. I did not notice he was that outdated,“ Gary Woodland mentioned at this month’s PNC Championship, which Woods skipped. „Tiger’s affect, clearly, within the sport of golf is wonderful. What he is achieved off the course together with his basis, I want he was right here, too. Hopefully, he is therapeutic to some extent the place he’ll get again out as a result of all of us miss him. It is all higher when he is out.“
South African Trevor Immelman, the 2008 Masters champion, joked that he reminds his youngsters to ship Woods a Christmas card yearly for the affect he had on golf.
„[Tell] them if you are going to ship one Christmas card yearly, you higher ship it to Tiger as a result of with out him we might be in a unique scenario,“ Immelman mentioned.
On the Hero World Problem, Woods joked that he would most likely play in 25 occasions on each excursions after turning 50.
„I believe that ought to cowl a lot of the 12 months, proper?“ Woods mentioned. „No, I am simply trying ahead to only [getting] again to enjoying once more. Let me do this, after which I am going to form of work out what the schedule goes to be.“
The PGA Tour Champions schedule tees off on Jan. 22-24 on the Mitsubishi Electrical Championship in Hawaii. The primary main, the Senior PGA Championship, will likely be performed at The Concession Golf Membership in Bradenton, Florida, on April 16-19, which is per week after the Masters.
Woods is the one golfer to win the U.S. Junior Novice, U.S. Novice and U.S. Open, so he may need some motivation to compete within the U.S. Senior Open, which will likely be performed at Scioto Nation Membership in Columbus, Ohio, on July 2-5.
„I believe what we must do is doubtlessly problem him,“ Jim Furyk mentioned at this month’s Skechers World Champions Cup. „I do not assume he can hang around right here at these three-round tournaments. Perhaps he’ll get mad and play a bunch.“
Steve Flesch, a four-time winner on the senior circuit, urged that Woods must make his PGA Tour Champions schedule upfront to present match organizers sufficient time to organize.
„On our tour, that places an enormous problem on our match administrators if he does determine to play out right here, however he waits till the Friday earlier than the occasion,“ Flesch mentioned. „That is an enormous buildout distinction. Lots of people would present as much as see Tiger Woods as a result of he hasn’t been in any of those markets. We hope he would play in a few of these.“
