Tiger Woods is not playing in the 2024 Hero World Challenge due to a variety of nagging injuries. On Tuesday, while holding court as host for his annual tournament in the Bahamas, the 15-time major champion expressed uncertainty about his return to the golf course following a sixth back surgery this September.
"I'm not tournament-sharp yet, no. I'm still not there," Woods said. "These are 20 of the best players in the world, and I'm not sharp enough to compete against them at this level. So, when I'm ready to compete and play at this level, then I will."
It was at the Hero World Challenge a season ago where Woods was a surprise inclusion in the field. Ultimately finishing in 18th place among the 20 players, Woods came away from the tournament confident that he could play once a month on the PGA Tour in 2024.
Tiger's ambitions were never met as he withdrew from the Genesis Invitational in February due to illness and back spasms; he was not seen again until the Masters. The 48-year-old made the cut for a record 24th consecutive time at Augusta National but fell to the bottom of the leaderboard by tournament's end. Missed cuts followed in the final three major championships of the season -- his only other starts in 2024.
"I didn't think my back was going to go like it did this year," Woods said. "It was quite painful throughout the end of the year, and hence, I had another procedure done to it to alleviate the pain I had going down my leg. So, whether my commitment going forward is once a month, yeah, I could say that all over again, but I truly don't know.
"I'm just trying to rehab and still get stronger and better and feel better, really give myself the best chance I can going into next year. This year was kind of -- I had to toss it away, and I wasn't as sharp as I needed to be, and I didn't play as much as I needed to going into the major championships, and I didn't play well at them. Hopefully, next year will be better -- I'll be physically stronger and better. I know the procedure helped, and hopefully, I can then build upon that."
Woods has played in just 10 official PGA Tour events missing four cuts and withdrawing three times since he was seriously injured and hospitalized following a single-car crash in February 2021. His last top-20 finish on the PGA Tour came at the 2020 Farmers Insurance Open just two starts after securing his 82nd career victory at the Zozo Championship that prior fall.
"I'm just progressively trying to test [my back], keep making progress without setting it off," Woods said. "I don't want to have any setbacks, just want to keep making progress and give myself the best chance going into next year as possible. I feel like I'm getting stronger. I'm getting more pliable, but I've got a long way to go to be able to compete against these guys."