Tiger Woods – ‘I’ve got a long way to go’ before I’m ready for the PGA Tour

Tiger Woods said Tuesday he is nowhere near ready to play on the PGA Tour and has “a long way to go” before he can again compete with the world’s best golfers.

Woods, 48, is not playing in this week’s Hero World Challenge, an unsanctioned event he is hosting in the Bahamas.

“I’m not serious about the tournament,” Woods told reporters during a press conference in the Bahamas. “No, I’m not there yet. And these are the 20 best players in the world, and I’m not sharp enough to compete with them at this level. When I’m ready to compete and play at this level, I will.”

When Woods was asked if he still had the desire to join the tour, he said, “The fire is still burning to compete.”

“In terms of the recovery process of going out there and doing it over and over again and doing it consistently at a high level, for some reason, the body won’t recover like it used to,” Woods said. “That’s part of the age and part of the athlete’s journey.”

The 15-time champion announced in mid-September that he had undergone what is believed to be his sixth back surgery. He said that his back injury caused pain in his leg, which has been getting worse this past season.

Woods underwent multiple procedures to repair damage to his right foot and leg that he sustained in a car accident in February 2021.

Woods did not say when he hopes to return to the tour. Last year, the former world No. 1 golfer said he hoped to play once a month. He made five starts on tour in 2024, missed three starts and withdrew from the Genesis Invitational due to illness. He finished 60 at the Masters, finishing among golfers who made the cut.

“I didn’t think my back would go the way it did this year,” Woods said. “It was very painful at the end of the year, that’s why I had another procedure to relieve the pain I had when I fell on my leg. So, what are my commitments going forward? Is it once a month? Yes, I could say that again, but I don’t really know that I’m trying to rehabilitate and get stronger again I’m better and I feel better and I’ve given myself the best chance I can going into next year.”

“In terms of the recovery process of going out there and doing it over and over and over and doing it continuously at a high level, for some reason, the body just won’t recover like it used to. That’s part age and part athlete’s journey.”

Tiger Woods

Woods was not asked if he would play in the PNC Championship in Orlando, Florida, with his son Charlie in two weeks. You will be able to use a golf cart for the event. He hosts the Genesis Invitational at the Riviera Country Club outside Los Angeles on Feb. 13-16. The Masters, the first major of the season, will be played April 10-13.

“I’m trying to take it slow,” Woods said. “Keep making progress, without putting it back. I don’t want to have any setbacks. I want to keep improving and give myself the best chance to go to next year. I feel like I’m getting stronger, I’m getting more attractive, but I still have a long way to go to be able to compete with these guys.”

Woods, who is the vice chairman of the board of PGA Tour Enterprises, said that the negotiations for this trip with the Public Investment Fund of Saudi Arabia are still ongoing. The PGA Tour, the DP World Tour and the PIF signed a framework agreement to form an alliance, the deadline for that agreement expired Dec. 31, 2023. The parties have continued to negotiate over the past 11 months.

Any potential agreement between PGA Tour Enterprises and PIF would have to be approved by the Antitrust Division of the US Department of Justice.

“I think all of us who were part of this program thought it could have happened sooner than this,” said Woods. “Even if it happened, we are still within the rules of the DOJ that it gives us [assurance] that it will pass. Even if we had gotten a deal by now, it’s in the hands of the DOJ.

“But we wish we had something more concrete and more progressive than what we are right now. But things change a lot, we’re still working on that, it’s happening every day. From a policy board perspective or from a business perspective, things are moving and building but yes they are moving.