Tiger Woods is making his comeback at the Hero World Challenge, expressing his excitement to compete again despite feeling rusty. He hopes to play one event per month in 2024, now that his ankle is pain-free following successful surgery. However, he expressed frustration at players not being consulted about the PGA Tour merger and emphasized the need for better communication in the future. Woods also dismissed rumors of captaining the 2025 Ryder Cup, stating that the focus should be on the PGA Tour. He confirmed that Rob McNamara will be his caddie for the week but has not made a long-term decision. Despite the challenges, Woods is confident he can still win and is driven by his love for competition.
At Glance
‣ Tiger Woods is making his comeback at the Hero World Challenge and expressed his excitement to compete and play again, despite feeling his game is rusty.
‣ Woods revealed that his ankle is now pain-free after a successful subtalar fusion surgery in April, but mentioned that his knee and back still hurt.
‣ He also expressed frustration at players not being consulted before decisions are made by the PGA Tour commissioner, Jay Monahan, and emphasized that such a situation “can’t happen again”.
‣ Despite rumors of him potentially being the next Ryder Cup captain in 2025, Woods denied this, stating that there’s too much at stake with the PGA Tour at the moment.
(Image credit: Getty Images) This week, Tiger Woods is making his much-anticipated return at the Hero World Challenge. He had a lot to say during his Tuesday morning press conference at Albany. Woods didn’t hold back his frustration about players not being aware of the merger. He also talked about his new ‘pain-free’ walking and affirmed that he still believes he can win.
Here are some of the key points from the 15-time Major champion…
GAME FEELS RUSTY
Woods confessed that he has played many holes during the latter stages of his rehabilitation. However, he hasn’t had to record his scores during competition for a long time. He told the media that he’s “just as curious as all of you are to see what happens” when he tees off.
He said: “My game feels rusty, I haven’t played in a while. I’m excited to compete and play, and I’m just as curious as all of you are to see what happens because I haven’t done it in a while.”
ONE EVENT PER MONTH IN 2024
There were recent rumors that Tiger was considering 5-6 events next year. However, he hopes to play around double that. Now that walking is pain-free, he’s hoping for one event per month.
Woods said: “I think that best scenario would be maybe a tournament a month. I think that’s realistic. Again, right now, the biggest events are one per month. It sets itself up for that. Now, I need to get myself ready for all that. I think this week is a big step in that direction.”
He specifically mentioned the Genesis Invitational at Riviera as a potential start. This event, which he hosts and also played in this year, is in his home city of Los Angeles. It was the venue for his first ever PGA Tour start in 1992. However, he has never won the tournament. (Image credit: Getty Images)
(ANKLE) PAIN-FREE
After his subtalar fusion in April, Woods’ ankle is now pain-free. He said his surgery was a “success.” This explains his optimism for playing one event per month next year. However, Woods did stress that “other parts are taking the brunt of the load.”
He continued by saying his knee and back hurt. The forces have to go somewhere, and they go “up the chain”.
Woods said: “I’m not concerned at all about walking [it]. As I said, I don’t have any of the ankle pain that I had with the hardware that’s been placed in my foot, that’s all gone. “The other parts of my body, my knee hurts, my back. The forces go somewhere else. Just like when I had my back fused, the forces have to go somewhere. So it’s up the chain.”
THAT CAN’T HAPPEN AGAIN
Woods suggested that he was not specifically upset by the June 6th agreement. Rather, he was more concerned about the fact that players were not consulted before a decision was made for them by PGA Tour commissioner, Jay Monahan.
Throughout the 30-minute press conference, Woods consistently uttered the phrase “can’t happen again”. He was referring to how the players were left in the dark prior to that deal being revealed.
Woods said: “[Jay] understands what happened prior to that [announcement] can’t happen again and won’t happen again, not with the players that are involved and not with the player directors having the role that we have.”
RYDER CUP 2025
Woods has been touted for the next Ryder Cup captaincy at Bethpage in 2025. However, he firmly shut that down when asked, with the merger far too important right now. Woods said he’s “not thinking about it” and that “there’s too much at stake with our Tour” at the moment.
He said: “Right now, there’s too much at stake with our Tour to think about a Ryder Cup. We have to get this done and we have to be focused on this right now. The Ryder Cup can take a beat – the players and everyone involved understands that this is an issue we need to focus on.”
WHO’S YOUR CADDIE?
One of the key talking points ahead of Woods’ professional comeback was who will carry his bag once he tees off again.
Woods answered the query in the immediate term but stated he is yet to make a long-term call.
He said: “I’ve got Rob [McNamara] this week, he’s seen me hit a few shots. As far as next year, I don’t know yet. I don’t think Charlie’s going to be able to caddie. Can’t play hooky that often. I don’t know. Honestly, I really don’t know. “I was just looking forward to this week and seeing how things turned out. I’m curious to see what 72 holes looks like on the body and my game and then try and set a schedule going forward into next year.” (Image credit: Getty Images)
‘ABSOLUTELY’ THINKS HE CAN WIN
Tiger was asked what drove him to make a return to pro golf late in his 40s. His answer was simple – he loves competing and he loves to win. Just before confirming he “absolutely” believes he can still win, Woods explained what compelled him to go through all of that rehab once more.
He said: “I love competing, I love playing. I miss being out here with the guys, I miss the camaraderie and the fraternity-like atmosphere out here and the overall banter. But what drives me is I love to compete. “There will come a point in time, I haven’t come around to it fully yet, that I won’t be able to win again. When that day comes, I’ll walk — well, now I can walk. I won’t say run away, but I’m going to walk away.”
MCILROY STEPPING DOWN FROM PGA TOUR POLICY BOARD
The 15-time Major champion said he “totally understands” Rory McIlroy’s withdrawal from the PGA Tour board. He pointed out that the Northern Irishman had to juggle board meetings and being golf’s spokesperson all the while competing near the thick of it week-in, week-out on the PGA Tour.
Woods explained: “I totally understand why Rory made that decision. We put a lot of effort and time into the Delaware meeting and getting everyone aligned for that. “Going from there and the next couple years, just the involvement or the conflict within golf and then his participation at the highest level. He was in contention almost every tournament he played in and he was the spokesman at the same time. So that was very difficult on him personally and I totally understand it.” (Image credit: Getty Images)
A PATHWAY BACK TO THE PGA TOUR FROM LIV
A significant part of the conversation with Woods centred around his involvement in the PGA Tour’s deal with Saudi Arabia’s PIF and how the game of golf could potentially heal moving forward. Part of that healing process may depend on whether and if players who signed up to the LIV Golf League may be allowed to return to the PGA Tour, should they want.
Woods was keen not to give too much away, though, and insisted there are still “many different scenarios” on the table.
He said: “As far as a pathway, we’re still working on that. That’s part of the deal we’re working through is trying to find a path, whatever that looks like. There’s so many different scenarios.”
CURRENT STATE OF THE MERGER
Woods confirmed that no matter what may be reported or suggested externally, everyone involved in trying to thrash out a deal is pulling in the same direction.
He said: “One thing, all the parties are talking and we’re aggressively working on trying to get a deal done. We’re all trying to make sure that the process is better, too. So the implementation of governance is one of the main topics as long as — getting the deal done, but making sure it’s done the right way.”
Woods later went on to field a question about his confidence levels in regard to the deal being past a certain point by the end of the year.
He said: “We have multiple options, but still, we would like to have a deal done December 31st. That’s what the agreement said in the summer and all parties understand that. But there are other options out there.” (Image credit: Getty Images)
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Updates from…Jonny LeighfieldStaff Writer
