Ryan Lavner has revealed what he believes Tiger Woods must now do in 2025 after his performances in the four major championships this year.
Tiger Woods was one of a raft of big names who missed the cut at The Open Championship after a tough time for the 48-year-old at Royal Troon. Woods finished 14 over par for his tournament, with the writing on the wall for his chances of making the weekend surely coming on the second hole of his second round as he made a double bogey.
Of course, expectations for the 15-time major champion were low heading into the final major of the year. Woods had to respond to comments from Colin Montgomerie ahead of the event, with the Scot suggesting that the time has come for him to retire.
Woods has missed three cuts this year, while he finished last of those who made the weekend at The Masters. Since winning at Augusta National in 2019, he has missed seven cuts and withdrawn twice in 14 major appearances.
What Tiger Woods must do in 2025
In 2024, Woods has only played in the majors – clearly wary of pushing his body too far at this stage of his career. But speaking on the Golf Channel Podcast, Ryan Lavner has suggested that that cannot be the case next year if Woods is hoping to be at all competitive.
“If you look ahead to 2025, what reasons for optimism actually exist? I thought Xander Schauffele had a great thought on Thursday, they were grouped together with Patrick Cantlay as well, and Xander made the point that Tiger is making it as hard on himself as he possibly can. He’s playing the hardest events against the deepest fields on the most difficult set-ups,” he said.
“It’s clear that this does not work, he missed the last three cuts in 2024. The one he did make at The Masters, he shot 82 in the third round, that was his worst major score of his entire career to finish DFL. So to me, what should he do in 2025?
“To me, it’s obvious, he has to play more. He just has to see if he can play more; if he breaks, he breaks. But at least, he’s giving himself a chance to get competitively sharp. He said the only thing he wanted to do in 2024 is play all four major championships, first time in a while that he has been able to do that. He did it, but he was uncompetitive, he was a ceremonial golfer.
“It is not a strategy that is feasible moving forward. He has to play, even on the off chance that it leads to injury and him not playing in a major championship.”
A dilemma for the 15-time major champion
Woods definitely faces a bit of a dilemma as he has had so many injuries over the last couple of decades, and he will not want to do anything which could jeopardise his quality of life once his playing days are behind him.
But he is arguably the greatest to ever play the game, so he will not be content with how he is playing in the majors either. So it would make a lot of sense to see if he could play in a couple more events next year to try and give himself the best chance of competing.
Much may come down to how hungry Woods is to win again. If his ultimate goal is to win another major, then he will surely make changes to what he is doing ahead of next year’s calendar.
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