The question on every golf fan’s lips right now is: when will Tiger Woods return to competitive action?
It was back in October when Tiger Woods underwent back surgery for the seventh time during his career.
As a result, many feared for the 15-time major winner’s future in the game. However, he has just been cleared by his doctors to chip and putt again, and if we’ve learnt anything about Tiger throughout the years, it is that we should never write him off.
Even when he’s not playing, the 82-time PGA Tour winner is the biggest star in the professional game.
It has been mooted that Woods could actually be named as the 2027 Ryder Cup captain, but right now, returning to full health will be his main priority.
Do you think Tiger Woods can win another PGA Tour event?
It has been suggested that Woods is planning on playing several PGA Tour Champions events after he turns 50 on December 30th.
However, could we see him back on the main Tour any time soon, or perhaps the TGL?
Kevin Kisner says what Tiger Woods told him about potential PGA Tour return
Being the competitor he is, Woods will still harbor ambitions of challenging for PGA Tour titles again before he hangs up his clubs.
Crucially, though, the 49-year-old has to ensure that he is fully healthy and that his body is ready to allow him to compete again.
When speaking on the Trey Wingo Podcast, Kisner was asked whether he thinks Woods could return to competitive action in 2026.
He said: “Well, we’re hoping that he’ll come back and play the last few TGL matches with us later this spring, early March or so.
“It depends how the rehab goes. I talked to Tiger a good bit and he’s starting to feel a bit better, you’ve seen him moving around at Albany this week.
“Hopefully he’s just pain-free, that’s the biggest key. Even if he had to come back and play a few Champions Tour events just to get his feet wet and ride in a cart, that would be cool, right? That would be a huge boost to that Tour.
“We all want to see him play and we’ll welcome him with open arms, but we want him to be healthy when he does it.”
What Tiger Woods said about where he’s at in the rehab process
Unfortunately for Woods, he’s not progressing as quickly as he would have liked in the rehab process.
“It’s not as fast as I’d like it to be. It was a good thing to do, something I needed to happen, it just takes time and dedication to the rehab process,“ Woods said before the start of the Hero World Challenge.
“Unfortunately I’ve been through this rehab process before and it’s step-by-step. Once I get a feel for the recovery process, I can decide where and when to play.
“Let me get back to playing again, let me do that and I’ll figure out the schedule. I just got cleared last week to chip and putt.
“It’s been six weeks last Friday [since the operation] and it’s been slow.
“You can’t really do much with a disc replacement, now we have the OK to start cranking it up in the gym and start strengthening.“
The big worry for Tiger Woods fans is that he might rush back to action before he is ready. Hopefully he’s experienced enough not to do that and just maybe we’ll see the man who many regard as the greatest of all time contend just one more time.
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