Tiger Woods schedule next month: More events expected but competitiveness questionable amid ongoing recovery

Tiger Woods’ schedule for next month: More events expected, but competitiveness in question as recovery continues

Tiger Woods hasn’t taught us anything during his busy month of golf. What was supposed to be a bit of a foreshadowing of what the last month was going to be like for him was just a continuation of how he was last month. Woods initially withdrew from the Hero World Challenge due to plantar fasciitis and teamed up with Rory McIlroy a week later, losing to Justin Thomas and Jordan Spieth in Match VII. It’s a performance (on both sides) that Spieth may still be angry about when they all meet again at the Masters next April. After a brief match at Pelican Golf Club, Woods teamed up with his son Charlie to compete in the PNC Championship and finished tied for eighth, six strokes behind Vijay and Cass Singh.

Tiger’s performance throughout the game was a near perfect representation of his final week. Great swing, incredible speed for his age, and a lot of frustration with injuries, a lot of rust, and a body that can’t perform at the level it wants.

That’s the current Tiger. Any idea that this might be the engine for a rich and healthy year-end 2023 was quickly dismissed after its reveal in the Bahamas, where it looked mediocre (but happily mediocre!) against the Pelicans and again Rejected. Rory.

But Woods seems to refuse to accept that he is incapable of playing on the PGA Tour, let alone winning a major championship. Three-time major winner Padraig Harrington said at the PNC Championship that he thought Tiger would win another major. The players had no interest in saying Woods couldn’t win anymore, but it still seemed ridiculous.

Woods himself admitted that his problem wasn’t hitting the shots, but walking the golf course. At the PNC Match & Championship, he was able to use a golf cart, but he will no longer be allowed to do so in 2023. Harrington noted Woods’ speed, which Thomas also noted. “He said this on ‘Hero’: He can hit any shot and obviously some days are different,” Thomas said. “As he himself said, he has great speed. Now he’s producing 100% more than he did when I was a driver, and when he’s feeling good and moving well like he did (at PNC), he can do whatever he wants. So it’s good that he has a cart and can enjoy this week.”

What will happen in 2023? What happens at the Genesis Invitational, Arnold Palmer Invitational, Players Championship and Masters when the metaphorical crutches are taken away and Woods has to go 72 holes with legs that will never be 100 percent again? Will he even be able to compete without the coveted reps he speaks of so often? Even Tiger doesn’t know that.

Asked if he could predict what 2023 will look like, Woods said, “No, not yet.” “If I couldn’t feel the bottom of my foot, then yes, I would say that and I would have a better idea, but this has to rest and stretch and heal. But now I don’t do that anymore.

There are some issues. Perhaps more importantly, Woods turns 47 this week. Yes, that’s good. Yes, he can still swing. Yes, it’s Tiger Woods. But 47 is 47, and his age certainly isn’t helping his leg heal.

Woods is in a better position today than he was a year ago. He recently said that his only goal for 2022 is to play in the British Open and that he is surprised to be able to play in the PGA Championship and Masters. He’s played in all four majors this year and will probably try to surpass that record in one or two more games. Will he be able to complete all these tournaments? Who knows, but he’ll definitely try to start them. What really doesn’t make sense is the widespread belief that Woods can be competitive in major tournaments, maybe even contend for a championship. He won’t match that performance (47th, opt-out, miss) in 2022, and any gradual improvement in his foot health will likely be offset by his aging body. (Keep in mind that his back isn’t good either.)

There is simply no clear path for Woods to stay healthy enough to put in the effort necessary to get sharp enough to win his 16th major championship.

Does this mean Tiger will be a ceremonial golfer in 2023 and beyond? Probably not. There will be a time for that. At some point he’ll hit 66. He’ll be on the main leaderboard either Friday or over the weekend. This allows you to enjoy the thrill throughout the entire course. But considering the 72 holes needed to even have a chance to win another major, he doesn’t have the stamina to really compete. The tension between his skill (still very high) and his physicality (all over the map) will be a theme in Woods’ story in 2023. It’s probably something that will haunt him for the rest of his career. The fact that his oldest contemporary, Phil Mickelson, won a major tournament at age 50 will only add to the hype. At 47 years old, winning a golf tournament, especially one involving Woods, is extremely difficult, if not impossible. Doing that with a broken body like Woods makes the problem even worse.

So, while we’ll likely see more of Tiger in 2023, and his presence will be a good thing given the ongoing rivalry with LIV Golf on the PGA Tour, December will see more of Tiger. It wasn’t a sign that we’d be able to see more of what we’ve been doing. The rivalry continued throughout his career. . He wins a top-level golf tournament. Those days are almost certainly behind us, and while we may see signs to the contrary over the next 12 months (and beyond), the last few weeks have given us a glimpse into where Woods is and what’s next. It became a reminder.