Tiger Woods has remained tight-lipped about his chances of a competitive return but said on Thursday he had been working on his irons and short game.
Woods, the tournament host this week at the Genesis Invitational at Los Angeles’ famed Riviera Country Club, admitted that playing the Masters at Augusta National in seven weeks’ time was likely too much to ask of his body.
Woods was in a single-car accident in early 2021 and had multiple fractures in his right leg.
“Will I come back (to competitive golf eventually)? Yes,” he said. “Will I come back and play a full schedule? No.”
Woods said his injured leg was not yet capable of the amount walking required for a golf tournament – typically two practice rounds and four tournament rounds.
“I wish I could tell you when I’ll play again, but I don’t…I haven’t done any of the long (game) stuff seriously. I’m still working on the walking part,” he said.
“My foot was a little messed up there a year ago, so the walking part…it still takes time.”
Woods said his recent golf activity at home in Florida had been “very limited.” He had been doing a lot of chipping, putting, and hitting short irons. But he hasn’t worked “seriously” on his longer clubs.
“I have a long way to go,” Woods said.
Woods, who turned 46 in December, looked fit and sounded sharp while addressing the media nearly one year after his single-car accident outside Los Angeles.
Two days after handing the trophy to Max Homa’s at last year’s Genesis, Woods suffered traumatic injuries to his right leg. He has not played a competitive round on the PGA Tour since the Masters in November 2020.
He did partner with his son in December at the PNC Challenge, an exhibition in which his game looked impressive enough to suggest Woods might be closer to playing on tour than previously thought.
However, Woods was riding in a cart that week in Orlando, and the scramble format allowed him to only hit the shots he was comfortable with. Playing on tour, of course, is an entirely different animal, and Woods has said he would never petition for a special exemption to use a cart during competition.
“I’m a lot stronger than I was [at the PNC], I’m able to hit more shots. But as I was alluding to at the PNC, I was in a cart. I can play weekend warrior golf, that’s easy. But to be able to be out here and play call it six rounds of golf, a practice round, pro-am, four competitive days, it’s the cumulative effect of all that. I’m not able to do that yet. I’m still working on getting to that point.”
