Tiger Woods Returning to Competition at Hero World Challenge
Tiger Woods will return to competition for the first time since competing at St. Andrews in July as he announced he will be part of the Hero World Challenge field next month in the Bahamas.
Woods, 46, said via social media Wednesday that he has added himself to the field for his annual tournament that benefits his foundation. The event dates to 1999 when Woods founded it along with his late father, Earl.
It moved to the Bahamas in 2015. The tournament is Dec. 1-4 at Albany outside of Nassau.
Among those already scheduled to compete were Masters winner Scottie Scheffler, PGA Championship winner Justin Thomas, U.S. Open champion Matt Fitzpatrick as well as a slew of players ranked among the top 20 in the world including Jon Rahm, Xander Schauffele, Collin Morikawa, Jordan Spieth, Viktor Hovland, Tony Finau and Max Homa.
Will Zalatoris, who was scheduled to play, has withdrawn and was replaced by Shane Lowry. Kevin Kisner and Tommy Fleetwood were also announced as additions on Wednesday.
Woods, a 15-time major champion who has 82 PGA Tour victories, surprisingly returned at the Masters in April less than 14 months after a serious car crash caused major injuries to his lower right leg and foot.
After an opening-round 71 at Augusta National, Woods made the cut, then struggled on the weekend and posted his worst 72-hole finish at the Masters. He returned at the PGA Championship, where he again made the cut but withdrew following the third round.
Despite a promising run-up to the British Open at St. Andrews, Woods missed the cut and has not played since.
There were recent indications that Woods was ramping up to play at the Hero on a flat golf course in a relatively low-key environment. It was announced earlier this week that he will participate in The Match on Dec. 10 along with Rory McIlroy, Thomas and Spieth. And he is expected to play in the PNC Championship along with his son, Charlie, Dec. 17-18.
The Hero tournament gives Official World Golf Ranking points and is required to invite only players ranked among the top 50 in the world. Woods, as tournament host, is exempt from that stipulation. Having played just four OWGR events in the past two years, he has dropped to a career-low 1,245th.