Tiger Woods Announces Hero World Challenge Field—With an Open Spot for Himself
Tiger Woods announced the field for his Hero World Challenge to be played in December. He is not part of it.
Yet.
The tournament host and 15-time major winner, who competed in just three events in 2022, would be a likely participant in his Bahamas golf tournament that benefits his foundation—if he’s physically able.
There have been no suggestions he won’t play, but Woods, 46, left open three spots in the 20-man field that is led by No. 1–ranked Scottie Scheffler and defending champion Viktor Hovland.
The tournament is restricted to top 50 players in the world—with Woods an exception as the tournament host.
Among those committed are this year’s Masters (Scheffler), PGA Championship (Justin Thomas) and U.S. Open (Matt Fitzpatrick) winners.
Others entered are Xander Schauffele, Jon Rahm, Collin Morikawa, Tony Finau, Max Homa, Billy Horschel, Jordan Spieth and Tom Kim.
Woods, who continues to deal with injuries suffered in a February 2021 vehicle crash, last competed at the British Open, where he missed the cut at St. Andrews. He came back at the Masters, where he played all four rounds, then made the cut at the PGA Championship, withdrawing after the third round.
Notah Begay was asked on SiriusXM Tuesday about Woods’ possible schedule. Begay, a longtime friend of Woods who works as an NBC/Golf Channel reporter, said he believes that Woods is all but certain for the PNC Championship in late December with his son, Charlie. But he also suggested Woods has been struggling with his leg.
"Tiger is just steadily trying to find ways to get a little bit more stability in his leg,’’ Begay said. “It was really presenting some major challenges at St. Andrews. I had a chance to talk to him during the round out there. It’s just constant discomfort. It’s just hard to focus on golf, which is hard enough, much less having to deal with the literal pain of your leg kind of aching throughout the day.
"I know as soon as he feels like he can be competitive—I think he got a good sense of what it’s going to take this past year—we’ll see him. We might see him one time this fall. He might surprise everybody.’’
Woods last competed in the Hero in 2019, when he finished fourth the week before being a playing captain at the Presidents Cup.