The last time Tiger played a full PGA Tour was back in 2019. However, he is expecting to be a part of a ‘tournament a month’ in 2024. The 15-time major champion has focused on trying for a record-breaking 83rd PGA Tour title in 2024 subsequent to seeing good signs in his two rebound appearances this month.
Woods made his first start since withdrawing from The Masters in April and undergoing ankle surgery, finishing 18th at the Hero World Challenge. After that, he and his son Charlie won the PNC Championship and finished in a tie for fifth.
The 47-year-old said recently he was focusing on ‘a tournament a month’ next season, having played only four majors and one full-field PGA Tour since enduring career undermining leg and lower leg injuries in a car crash in February 2021, with Woods still certain of adding to his success count.
“I think that given the fact that I’m able to practice and do the things that I know I can do, and prepare, I know that I can still do it [win],” Woods said. “I can still hit the golf ball.
“It’s just a matter of prepping and get enough reps in and get enough work in and being right physically, and endurance capability of it. I haven’t had the leg good enough where I’ve been able to compete and play a lot of rounds. I’ve had a lot of procedures over the years, and that’s just part of it.
“I know if I can practice, I know I can still do it. I can still hit the golf ball. I can still chip. I can still putt. Granted it’s also putting it all together for 72 holes. That’s the challenging part of it.”
Ahead of the Hero World Challenge, Woods said that he was pain-free in his ankle since April’s fusion surgery but felt discomfort in other areas, although he insisted after the PNC Championship he feels physically better than he did when he made a comeback at the Genesis Invitational earlier this year.
“I think that a lot of things are aching a lot more than my ankle, which is the way it goes,” Woods explained. “I’ll be able to walk and play. We’ve been working out hard, been able to recover. We’ve been training every day, which is great.
Woods is expected to be back at Augusta National from April 11-14 to chase a record-equalling sixth Green Jacket, while the PGA Championship from May 16-19 takes place at Valhalla – the venue where Woods lifted the Wanamaker Trophy in 2000 as part of the ‘Tiger Slam’.
He holds a lifetime exclusion to the two events as a former winner and can also contend at The Open until he is 60, having lifted the Claret Jug three times, despite the fact that he currently does not hold automatic qualification to the US Open.
Woods has missed the past three editions of the US Open but will want to feature in the competition at Pinehurst, in spite of the fact that his five-year exception for winning The Master in 2019 has now ended and could leave him depending on an extraordinary exclusion from the USGA to play.
The 2024 PGA Tour season begins with The Sentry from January 4-7, which will be held on the Plantation Course at Kapalua, Hawaii. Woods is yet to announce when his next competitive will start, but has said playing “a tournament in a month” is a realistic goal in the year ahead.
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