Tiger Woods is ready: Four-time champion returns to golf at PGA Championship

Tiger Woods is ready to return to golf next week at the PGA Championship, as the PGA of America has announced the course for the year’s second major.

The tournament will be held at Valhalla Golf Course from May 16-19. Woods won the tournament four times during his career – in 1999, 2006, 2006 and 2007.

A total of 156 players will participate in the tournament and the PGA of America will nominate 154 names. The remaining two spots will be awarded to the winners of the Wells Fargo Championship and Myrtle Beach Classic. The ranking also includes 16 former winners and 33 major winners. In addition to Woods, the prestigious tournament will feature defending champion Brooks Koepka, Rory McIlroy and reigning world number one Scottie Scheffler. The field also includes LIV Golf’s Talor Gooch, who won the individual title against an old rival last season. The PGA of America has taken a clear stance in its approach to LIV golfers after it announced last June that LIV and the PGA would merge into one entity.

Gooch received a special invitation to play in the major because he does not qualify through the normal qualifying process, which requires a high ranking in the Official World Golf Ranking (OWGR) or a win on the PGA Tour. Notably, LIV golf players do not receive points from LIV tournaments, so their rankings will not improve compared to OWGR. However, some LIV players, such as Koepka and Phil Mickelson, qualified for this year’s PGA Championship based on their previous wins. Several LIV players also qualify to play in Valhalla after strong performances in other major tournaments in recent years, including Jon Rahm winning the 2023 Masters and Dustin Johnson winning the 2020 Masters are doing.