Tiger Woods has added unprecedented excitement to the sport he plays best by declaring that it is “realistic” he could play a tournament every month next year.
The 47-year-old will take part in Thursday’s first round of the Hero World Challenge in the Bahamas, his first competitive outing since withdrawing from the third round of the Masters in April.
Countless golf-related obituaries were written when he limped out of Augusta — and indeed two weeks later, when he underwent another surgery on the right leg he nearly lost in a car crash less than three years earlier.
Any optimism at that stage appeared to extend to the point where Woods was able to strike a balance in the occasional majors. But in his first press conference after stepping aside, Woods made a prediction that stunned the game with its positivity.
Stating that his joint was fused, he said, “I can tell you this, I do not feel any of the pain in my ankle that I experienced in Augusta.” “Yes, other parts take the brunt of the load, so other parts hurt a little more, but my ankle is fine. So the surgery was successful.
“I think the best scenario would be to play one tournament a month; I think this is realistic.
“Maybe you should have started with Genesis [Invitational in February] and something near The Players in March. we have [it] to create [in the schedule] Currently the biggest events happen once a month. Now I need to prepare myself for all this. “I think this week is a big step in that direction.”
‘When I can’t win, I walk away’
To put his goal in perspective, Woods has only played in five events since February 2021, when he destroyed his vehicle and his body, and has only completed three of them. Frankly, it’s “rusty” in his own words and doesn’t even have a carrier prepared for 2024; his friend and business partner Rob McNamara handles this week’s bagger duties.
Joe LaCava, who was with Woods when he won the 2019 Masters, now trains for Patrick Cantlay, and Woods joked that his 14-year-old son Charley “can’t play wild” [miss school] HE “often”. But he is determined to fulfill his long-standing promise that he will never be there on a purely ceremonial basis.
Asked if he still believes he can win, Woods said: “Absolutely.” “What drives me is that I love to compete. There will come a point in time where I can’t win again, and I don’t think I’m there yet. “When that day comes, I will walk.”
Another fairytale comeback isn’t his only mission. Woods had yet to comment on the bombshell announcement in June that the PGA Tour had signed “a framework agreement” with the Saudi sovereign wealth fund that finances the LIV Golf League, and was unusually candid in his assessment.
“I’m sure a lot of players were just blown away by what was happening so quickly and without any information, everything was thrown to the side,” Woods said. “We are very disappointed with what happened and have taken proactive steps to ensure the players are engaged… this way we would not be left out of the process.”
Beleaguered PGA Tour commissioner Jay Monahan must be twitching in his seat. Many players called for his resignation, but for now, Woods, who could have kicked him out of Sawgrass HQ in one sentence, gave him permission to stay.
“Jay understands that what happened cannot and will not happen again,” Woods said.
“We control the board and we control what we do. “We cannot experience what is happening in a few months without our intervention again.”
At Augusta, Woods was named to the Tour’s policy board when Monahan bowed to locker room pressure by giving the golfers numerical superiority around the table. There’s a six-to-five split between professionals and managers, meaning that when a deal is reached the men in pointe shoes, not blazers, will have the final say.
But Woods made clear he was playing an active role in the negotiations. He and his team are believed to want to bring in US investors to ensure Saudi influence is at least limited, but on Tuesday he left all avenues open, including the LIV Golf League, which co-exists with the PGA. Tour and the rebels are allowed to return to Tour.
“Until this way [back]”We’re still working on that,” he said. “There are many different scenarios. “That’s why I said there are many sleepless hours trying to figure this out… All parties are talking and we’re working aggressively to get a deal done… Everyone involved wants feedback, it’s just part of making a deal, but we must preserve the integrity and meaning of our Tour going forward.”
Woods is clearly a busy person right now. And perhaps he’s too busy to take on the Ryder Cup captaincy in 2025. Following America’s comprehensive defeat in Rome last month, there was widespread speculation that Woods would take over the reins from the hapless Zach Johnson.
But with the PGA of America keen to announce its captain for January’s match in New York, Woods has all but ruled himself out of that timeline. “There’s too much at stake with our tour right now to even think about the Ryder Cup,” he said. “We’ve got to get this done. The players and everyone involved understands that’s what we need to focus on.”