Rory McIlroy suggests how long Tiger Woods will be out for after suffering Achilles injury in preparation for the Masters

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Rory McIlroy has reacted to the news that Tiger Woods has suffered a long-term injury in his press conference before the Players Championship.

Woods announced that he had ruptured his Achilles on Tuesday, March 11, and this is the first time that McIlroy has addressed the media since.

The 15-time major champion was not due to compete at The Players, instead focusing on entering the Masters Tournament next month.

This setback now means that he will not only miss Augusta but several other tournaments, especially if what McIlroy said proves to be right.

• READ MORE: Kevin Kisner picks the hole at TPC Sawgrass that’s far more ‘difficult’ than people realise where Tiger Woods made big mistake at The Players

Rory McIlroy reacts to Tiger Woods injury announcement

One of the first questions put to McIlroy in his latest was his reaction to the disappointing news of Woods’ injury.

“Yeah. It sucks,” responded the world number two. “Yeah, he doesn’t have much luck when it comes to injuries and his body.

“Obviously he was trying to ramp up to get ready for Augusta, and Achilles surgeries obviously aren’t fun. Hoping he’s in good spirits and hoping he’s doing okay.”

McIlroy then suggested how long Woods will take to recover from his Achilles injury, and that he expects him to return to competition at some point.

He added: “We obviously won’t see him play golf this year, and hopefully we see him maybe play in 2026.

“He’ll try [to compete again]. I know he’ll try. But that’s a question for him, not for me. I obviously don’t know what’s in his head. But judging by prior behavior, he’ll definitely try.”

Tiger Woods could return for new TGL season in 2026

Woods has not competed on the PGA Tour since the Open Championship last July. He had been playing in the newly-founded TGL, however, alongside Max Homa, Kevin Kisner and Tom Kim for the Jupiter Links GC team.

McIlroy said that Woods was using the competition to help prepare him for his return to the Tour, which will now be severely delayed.

“Well, he said he’d only touched a club three times or something, so I wouldn’t say he’d have been necessarily close.

“But he was obviously trying to get closer by ramping up and training and practicing and doing whatever he was doing. Yeah, I’d say he was trying to catch up on some lost time there.”

Perhaps the next time golf fans have the opportunity to watch Woods do what he does best will be in the next season of TGL.

The first event this year was on Tuesday, January 7, so a similar star date next season would give him just under 10 months to recover from his latest setback.