Tiger Woods’ latest comeback means a wild golfing week is ahead

Tiger Woods will stage his latest comeback where it all began.

And where it almost ended.

Woods’ 11-word statement came via Twitter on Friday: “I’m ready to play an ACTUAL PGA Tour event next week,” he wrote.

The capitalization of the ACTUAL title appeared to be a reference to the PNC Championship, the two-day team event Woods has played with his son Charlie for the past two years, plus the match Woods has played the week before. He had also planned to play the Hero World Challenge in December but canceled the week due to plantar fasciitis.

We haven’t seen Woods play stroke play golf since last year’s Open Championship. We didn’t see him play four rounds of stroke play golf since last year’s Masters. We don’t know what he will look like, how he will walk, how he will play. But Tiger Woods is coming back just as the golf season is at its peak. That’s enough for now.

you want a party you already have one After all, Woods’ announcement came mid-game on Friday at the WM Phoenix Open, the third-largest tournament of the PGA Tour season. (First on this list is Saturday at the WM Phoenix Open, with Sunday’s Super Bowl at the WM Phoenix Open coming in a close second.) The stakes of this year’s event were only raised by the debut of its elevated status; It now boasts one of the strongest fields in recent PGA Tour history and an associated budget of $20 million. As a prominent example, Rory McIlroy, the world number 1, has never played a World Championship Phoenix Open in front of a full audience. You’re lucky to have him.

you want theatre? The highly-anticipated Netflix docuseries about the PGA Tour will release the Sunday after the Super Bowl and offer a behind-the-scenes look that the Tour hopes will introduce golf to new fans and spark interest in their product. This week is a jolt in itself, especially considering the Super Bowl is just down the road and just juicing the star power around town. If professional golf serves as the unofficial pre-game show at America’s greatest sporting event, the sport will certainly embrace it.

You want a rivalry? Woods’ comeback announcement came on LIV Commissioner Greg Norman’s birthday. On his birthday! Woods has already made his loyalty to the PGA Tour clear, but his commitment to competing on an actual tournament field means something more. That’s doubly true considering LIV’s first event of the season is taking place just a week after Genesis in Mayakoba.

One reason LIV has seemed to be winning the news cycle over the past 12 months is that it was news whenever the fledgling league gained a player, while the PGA Tour’s retention of players was no news; that only maintained the status quo. But this week it feels like the Tour Woods is winning, at least for one tournament. It’s been a while too: Woods last played in a non-major on the PGA Tour in October 2020 at the Zozo Championship in Sherwood, California.

You want an elite tournament? You already have a great one in the works. Jon Rahm and Scottie Scheffler and Jason Day and Xander Schauffele and PGA Tour stars old and new get tangled up at TPC Scottsdale. Next week’s field will be just as strong; The same group of top guys will be there, plus the few who missed this week like Will Zlatoris and Adam Scott. Woods will join them at Riviera Country Club, arguably the most popular spot on the tour.

You want symbolism? Woods was born and raised in Southern California. This is his home game. It’s where he made his PGA Tour debut in 1992 as a 16-year-old sophomore of high school. It has become his foundation’s event, where he hosts and presents the trophy. The last time Woods played in front of a full group of fans on tour was the 2020 Genesis Invitational. He entered the world at No. 8 this week. A year later, Woods returned, not healthy enough to play but there to serve as tournament director. His week had a nightmarish ending; On the Monday morning after the event, he was in a horrific car accident and nearly lost his leg, not to mention his golfing season.

In other words, this tournament marked the beginning and almost the end of Woods’ career on the PGA Tour.

What better place to stage his latest comeback?

Dylan Dethier

Golf.com editor

Dylan Dethier is senior writer for GOLF Magazine/GOLF.com. A Williamstown, Mass. native, he joined GOLF in 2017 after two years of tussling on the mini-tours. Dethier is a graduate of Williams College, where he studied English, and is the author of 18 in Americawhich describes the year he lived off his car as an 18-year-old and played a round of golf in every state.