Tiger Woods reacts to a shot during the second round of the 2024 Genesis Invitational. | Photo by Ronald Martinez/Getty Images
Tiger Woods, who won The Players Championship in 2001 and 2013, will not tee it up at TPC Sawgrass next week.
Golf fans will likely have to wait a few more weeks to see Tiger Woods tee it up again.
The 15-time major champion will not play at TPC Sawgrass next week, the site of the 50th Players Championship.
Woods last played at Riviera Country Club for the Genesis Invitational but withdrew midway through the second round due to illness.
As such, Woods, who has not played at The Players since 2019, will focus all of his efforts on Augusta National, where The Masters Tournament awaits in April.
Of course, Woods played at The Masters last year but withdrew early Sunday due to plantar fasciitis and a nagging ankle injury. A few weeks later, he had surgery, which forced him to miss most of the 2023 season.
He then returned to competitive play at the Hero World Challenge in December, where he laid out his prospective plans for the 2024 golf season.
“I think the best scenario would be maybe a tournament a month,” Woods said in the Bahamas.
“I think that’s realistic. [Whether I] would have to start with maybe at Genesis and something in March near THE PLAYERS. Again, we have set up right now the biggest events are one per month. It sets itself up for that. Now, I need to get myself ready for all that.”
Although Woods did not officially commit to this schedule then, he did envision it as a possibility.
However, that prospect has since dwindled, even though Woods recently played in the Seminole Golf Club Pro-Member event in South Florida.
Perhaps he will return to TPC Sawgrass in 2025, but before he can even conceive that notion, he must finish all 72 holes in a major championship this year.
Only time will tell.
Jack Milko is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. Be sure to check out @_PlayingThrough for more golf coverage. You can follow him on Twitter @jack_milko as well.
