Just when it appeared that Tiger Woods’ return to tournament golf was getting closer and closer, the 15-time major champion suffered a devastating fresh setback, rupturing his Achilles in practice as he seemingly looked to get ready for the Masters.
It has been a difficult start to the year for Tiger Woods on and off the golf course. Following the PNC Championship back in December, there appeared to be real hope that the 49-year-old may stand a chance of adding events to his schedule after only making a handful of appearances in 2024.
There were some further positive signs across the debut season of TGL. However, Woods unfortunately recently had to deal with the passing of his mother. Understandably, he felt that he was not in the right place to tee it up at the Genesis Invitational at Torrey Pines.
Sadly, Woods’ wait to catch a break will now continue. It was announced this week that he faces another spell on the sidelines after rupturing his Achilles in practice. Immediately, fans realised that the news was likely to rule him out of featuring at the Masters this year.
How long Tiger Woods’ recovery is likely to take after he ruptured his Achilles
And it seems that Woods may face a race against time to be ready for the 2026 Masters.
While there is some hope that he could yet play again before the end of the year, Rex Hoggard has told the Golf Channel Podcast that there are concerns that Woods could be out for around 12 months.
“I will say there was a moment right after I posted his statement on social media where I reached out to someone in his camp and my question was ‘hey, just so I am not out of bounds here, the Masters is pretty much out of the question’. And he said ‘buddy, this is a year recovery’,” he said.
“Maybe it is less, I went online afterwards and what I found, it was a six to nine month recovery. You can start walking in about a month. So maybe it moves along faster, he certainly knows how to wade through rehab, he has done it enough.
“I also picked up on the tone of Rory this morning. He was asked do you think he will keep grinding away, do you think he will return to competition and Rory’s response was he will keep trying. He didn’t say yes, or absolutely, or we will see him next year at the Masters. He said he will keep trying.”
“He is going to start grinding today. He had the surgery yesterday and he is going to start grinding today for whatever it is that he wants to play next. I am guessing it is either the PNC, or next year’s Masters, or next year’s Genesis,” he added.
What some golf fans believe Tiger Woods should now do after latest setback
It is desperately sad, as a golf fan, to see Woods dealing with so many problems at this stage of his career. Clearly, he earned the chance to bow out from the highest level in style.
That may still happen. His victory at the 2019 Masters came after Woods had already overcome a number of hurdles. However, with each setback, it is getting harder and harder to see Woods getting himself back into a position to contend in another PGA Tour event.
Some fans believe Woods should now retire from tournament golf to give his body the best chance to heal as much as possible.
From the outside, it seems that getting the reps in he needs to be competitive again is now proving to be as difficult as reaching the level he probably needs to be at. With that, no-one would blame Woods if he did decide to bow out of competing at the majors after this latest disappointment.
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