Aggressive goals have always driven Tiger Woods, but as he gets older and injuries mount, the chase for major championships has been replaced by far more modest objectives … like just playing golf tournaments.
Woods recently underwent yet another back surgery amid an ongoing recovery and rehab for a torn Achilles that cost him the 2025 season. The 15-time major winner still wants to play competitive golf, but speaking at his Hero World Challenge tournament in the Bahamas, it sounds as if Woods isn’t taking anything for granted.
“I’m just looking forward to just, let me get back to playing again,” Woods said in a pre-tournament press conference. “Let me do that, and I’ll figure out what the schedule’s going to be. I’m a ways away from that part of it and that type of decision, that kind of commitment level.
“Unfortunately, I’ve been through this rehab process before, and it’s step by step. Once I get a feel for practicing, exploding, playing and the recovery process, then I can assess where I’m going to play and how much I’m going to play.”
Where Tiger Woods Stands in Latest Recovery
As Woods noted, it’s all about the small milestones. He shared a small victory in the rehab process, revealing doctors recently cleared him to start chipping and putting.
That’s a notable step, as it has been less than two months since Woods went under the knife, so it’s progress. However, he made the somewhat obvious admission that he won’t be able to play alongside his son, Charlie Woods, in the PNC Championship later this month. Additionally, Woods doesn’t anticipate being ready for the first half of the TGL season, which, for his Jupiter Links GC, begins Jan. 13.
Is Tiger Woods Eyeing PGA Tour Champions Run?
Asked whether he’d consider playing on PGA Tour Champions, aka the senior tour, Woods — who turns 50 at the end of the month — had some fun with his answer.
“I’m probably gonna play 25 events on both tours. I think that should cover most of the year, right?” Woods joked.
The Champions Tour is a fascinating potential career path for Woods. On the one hand, it gives him a relatively care-free opportunity to play somewhat competitive golf against the players he competed against early in his career. He can even use a cart, which protects against arguably his biggest issue, his surgically repaired leg that was nearly lost in a car accident.
Yet, the PGA Tour, which subsidizes the Champions tour, seemingly wants to get leaner under new CEO Brian Rolapp. Woods, as the chair of the Tour’s future competition committee, should be in lockstep with Rolapp.
Where it gets interesting, though, is one of Woods’ most recent sponsorship deals with Insperity. The HR business solutions company sponsors the Insperity Invitational each year at The Woodlands Country Club in Houston.
“What are they going to do with Tiger? How could you cut (PGA Tour Champions) now?” Fried Egg Golf’s P.J. Clark asked on an Aug. 29 episode of “The Shotgun Start” podcast. “Tiger’s not going to play on the PGA Tour. Tiger just signed a deal with Insperity. … I do not think that’s a coincidence whatsoever. This is not a man who goes after sponsorships. This is not a coincidence whatsoever.”
In a follow-up episode on Sept. 2, Clark added even more context: “After the Insperity deal, which I did hear after our Friday episode that I might be onto something there, barking up the right tree and connecting the right dots if you will.”
In a potentially related note, Woods sat at the dais for the Hero press conference wearing his customary Sun Day Red attire line with a small addition to the right sleeve: an Insperity patch.
Time will tell, and a lot of it depends on how Woods’ body reacts, but he’s clearly on the comeback trail. Where that leads and ultimately ends up, though, remains the biggest mystery.
Tiger Woods Breaks Silence With Update on Plans for Return to Golf