NEW YORK, NY—Given all the starts and stops it is likely Tiger Woods will return to formal competition with this play this week at the Hero World Challenge in the Bahamas. Woods has not played since a 10th place tie finish at the August ‘15 Wyndham Championship event in Greensboro, NC. That makes 16 months away from competition against the finest players in the game.
What can one expect?
No one can say with any certainty. Woods has had a range of issues with his body over the last number of years and initially he said he was “hopeful” to play in the PGA Tour’s Safeway event this past October followed by an appearance in the Turkish Airlines Open. Just prior to the start of the Safeway event -- Woods said the state of his game was “vulnerable” and he pulled out -- much to the consternation of tournament organizers. His long time agent -- Mark Steinberg -- was quick to add Tiger’s pullout was not related to any physical issues.
The field for this week’s event consists of just 18 players -- including world #2 Dustin Johnson, #4 Jordan Spieth, #5 Henrik Stenson, #7 Patrick Reed, #8 Bubba Watson and #10 Hideki Matsuyama.
The Hero World Challenge is a four-round, 72-hole stroke play event with a $3.5 million purse, a $1 million winner’s prize and Official World Golf Ranking points awarded. It will be held at the challenging par-72, 7,302-yard Albany course for the second consecutive year.
“I am excited to make my return at the Hero World Challenge at Albany and play in this terrific tournament,” Woods said. “This is our 18th year, and every year we put together a top field that showcases the best golfers from the previous season. Albany is an outstanding setting, and I can’t thank Hero MotoCorp enough for their support of the tournament and my foundation.”
Woods has won his own event five times -- the last time he played the event was in 2014.
