Woods to return at World Challenge

LOS ANGELES — Tiger Woods will return to competitive action at the Hero World Championship in the Bahamas, the 15-times major champion said, in what will be his first PGA Tour start since undergoing ankle surgery in April.

Woods, 47, is hosting the Nov. 30-Dec. 3 tournament in Albany, Bahamas which features six top-10 players in its 20-player field, including American world number one Scottie Scheffler.

Woods did not play in a major tournament this year, withdrawing from the Masters due to his ankle operation and missing the PGA Championship, US Open and British Open.

He has played a limited competition schedule since suffering serious leg injuries in a 2021 car crash.

Woods, who shares the record for PGA Tour victories with Sam Snead at 82, has struggled to walk courses for four rounds since his return from the accident.

He caddied for son Charlie in a 54-hole tournament in November and also put in an appearance before last week’s PGA Tour event in Mexico, the tour’s first event to be played on a course that he designed.

At El Cardonal at Diamonte, Woods was seen walking comfortably down a long staircase and visiting with players, including fellow American Stewart Cink, the 2009 British Open winner who declared Woods was in “go mode” and had returned to practicing.

Woods has made just five PGA Tour starts since the California car crash in which he suffered multiple breaks in his right tibia and fibula.

The 47-year-old has made the cut four times but completed 72 holes just twice.

The inactivity has seen his world ranking plummet to a career-worst 1,307th.

In February, Woods completed four rounds at the Genesis Invitational at Riviera Country Club.

It was his first start in seven months, and Woods reiterated at Riviera that his competitive schedule would remain extremely limited.

At Augusta National in April he acknowledged that he wonders each time he plays the Masters if it will be his last time there, and he was unable to achieve his goal this season of competing in all four majors and perhaps “a couple” of other events.

“It has been tough and will always be tough,” he said at the Masters according to AFP.

“The ability and endurance of what my leg will do going forward will never be the same. That’s why I can’t prepare and play as many tournaments as I like.

“But that’s my future and I’m OK with that.”