Those of us fearing Tiger Woods would play a straight bat to every interesting question he was asked in his press conference ahead of the Genesis Invitational were in for a pleasant surprise on Tuesday as he left the door open for a return at The Masters.
Tiger Woods has not played in a competitive golf tournament since 2024. A ruptured Achilles ruled him out of the majority of 2025, while he underwent back surgery later in the year.
Who will have more majors? 🏆
Tiger or Scottie…
It says everything about how many hurdles Woods has had to clear in recent years that an update on his fitness was far from the first question he faced in his press conference ahead of the Genesis Invitational.
But when he was asked whether playing in this year’s Masters was off the table, Woods simply replied: ‘No’.
Tiger Woods appearing in TGL next week not out of the question
The 50-year-old did say that he is hitting full shots again. But being ready to tackle Augusta National is clearly another matter altogether.
Perhaps we may get some further clues regarding Woods’ fitness in the next couple of weeks. Speaking on the Golf Channel Podcast, Rex Hoggard suggested that there is a feeling that he could make his TGL return by the end of next week.
“Perhaps I’m being too optimistic, maybe I got swept up in it as I’m listening to that 20 minute press conference yesterday. You’re right, he’s the king of the one word answer, and there was a smirk to that. I kind of read it a little bit different. Again, I walked away a little more optimistic than I was, and I think we’ll get an answer sooner rather than later,” he said.
“If you look at, and I’m sorry to revert to this because I know it’s not even comparing apples to apples, but his Jupiter Links team is scheduled to play on Sunday night of Cognizant week, so essentially next week, Sunday night, they’re scheduled to play. I think there’s a level of optimism that he might show up there. That might be one of the tells, okay maybe he is ready.
“I know it’s playing a TGL match inside where he’s not walking Augusta. I’m not trying to compare those two things, but it certainly would be an interesting soft opening if the idea is to play The Masters. So we’ll get an answer sooner rather than later. Maybe I’m being overly optimistic, but I walked away thinking to myself it’s a possibility, and I didn’t go into that press conference thinking it was going to be a possibility of that at all.”
The risk Tiger Woods took in publicly keeping his Masters hopes alive
Woods took a real gamble by dropping such a strong hint that he could be ready to compete at The Masters.
He will be aware that the entire golfing world is now dreaming of seeing him feature. At this stage, it is incredibly special whenever he is able to tee it up.
Where will Tiger Woods finish if he plays The Masters this year?
Tiger is not ruling it out…
Obviously, he does not have to think about anyone else but himself. But if he felt that it was unlikely, he could have surely said that he is yet to progress onto hitting full shots.
Having said that, things can change. Woods played in the early stages of TGL in 2025 and looked set to play at the Genesis Invitational at Torrey Pines. Sadly, he lost his mother and understandably took some time out.
The Achilles injury then dashed his hopes of playing at The Masters in April.
Unfortunately, that injury should act as a reminder that while Woods may have every intention of playing in the first major of the year this time around, there could be a number of obstacles that emerge before the 15-time major champion gets the chance to make his return to Augusta National.
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