Tiger Woods on return from surgery: 'On the good side now'
In his first media conference in several months, Tiger Woods spoke about his own recovery, the PGA Tour-LIV negotiations, and how often he plans to play in 2024.
Tiger Woods is back, once again, and to hear him tell it, he might be around for awhile.
Woods was famous for most of his career for proclaiming — often in the face of all medical and scientific evidence — that he was capable of winning any tournament he entered. Time, reality and surgery have blunted that confidence somewhat, but Woods once again exudes confidence that he'll be able to compete on the PGA Tour, if not necessarily manhandle it the way he used to. Baby steps.
Speaking two days before the start of the Hero World Challenge — a limited-field, no-cut event in the Bahamas that Woods himself hosts and will play in for his first tournament since the Masters — the 15-time major champion held forth on a range of topics, most notably his own health and the health of the professional game.
"My game feels rusty, I haven't played in a while," Woods said, noting that he's spent the months since withdrawing from the Masters recovering from ankle fusion surgery that he declared a "success."
"I'm just as curious as all of you are to see what happens because I haven't done it in a while," Woods added. "I can tell you this, I don't have any of the pain that I had at Augusta or pre-that in my ankle."
Woods explained that the pain he was experiencing in his ankle was due to bone-on-bone contact and "the only way to fix that was either to get it replaced or fused, and we chose the fusion."
"The first couple months were really rough," he said, "but unfortunately I've had experience, I've gone through it before and I'm here on the good side now."
While Woods retreated from public view and recovered, the game of golf underwent its most seismic structural shifts in half a century. On June 6, officials from the PGA Tour and Saudi Arabia's Public Investment Fund, the financial backer of the breakaway LIV Golf tour, announced an agreement that stunned the golf world, Woods included.
"We were very frustrated with what happened (on June 6) and we took steps going forward to ensure that ... we were not going to be left out of the process like we were," Woods said. "So part of that process was putting me on the (PGA Tour policy) board and accepting that position."
The Tour and the PIF have just over a month to meet their self-imposed deadline to reach an agreement, and Woods indicated that all parties are working through "a lot of sleepless hours" to bring the agreement to fruition. He even seemed to hint that there was a path forward for LIV, or some other form of team golf, in the game's future.
"I think there is a way in which we can all benefit from team golf, it's just how do we do it. We're just trying to figure out that process now," he said. "We've been doing it for months, trying to figure out how that all works, what does that landscape even look like, and where do we play and what impact does it have on our PGA Tour schedule."
Asked about his future plans, Woods made the somewhat surprising admission that he believed he could play as frequently as once a month, possibly starting with the Genesis Invitational in mid-February (another event he hosts) and the Players Championship in March.
"We have set up right now (a schedule where) the biggest events are one per month," Woods said. "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."
Woods will tee it up Thursday at 11:52 a.m. ET alongside Justin Thomas; the tournament will be broadcast in its entirety on The Golf Channel. Soon enough, we'll find how much Woods has left in the tank.
