Just three days after the PGA Tour announced that Tiger Woods had committed to play this week’s Safeway Open, the Big Cat has changed course and announced that, in fact, he will not be making his return to golf just yet. Tim Rosaforte of Golf Channel reported on air Monday afternoon that Woods was planning to withdraw from this week’s event, not for heath reasons, but for “performance related” reasons.
Tiger Woods reverses course and withdraws from Safeway Open
Tiger Woods was all set to make his return to golf in three days, but now he’ll be a late withdrawal for “performance reasons.”
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After a year of speculation and anticipation, Woods announced on Sept. 7 that he planned to make his return at the Safeway Open, then play the Turkish Airlines Open over on the Euro Tour at the start of November. He planned to finish his year playing his own Hero World Challenge in the Bahamas at the start of December.
In a statement released shortly after the report, Tiger not only confirmed the WD from the Safeway Open, but also next month’s Turkish Airlines Open (via TigerWoods.com)
After a lot of soul searching and honest reflection, I know that I am not yet ready to play on the PGA TOUR or compete in Turkey. My health is good, and I feel strong, but my game is vulnerable and not where it needs to be.
When I announced last week I was going to Safeway, I had every intention of playing, or I wouldn’t have committed. I spent a week with the U.S. Ryder Cup Team, an honor and experience that inspired me even more to play. I practiced the last several days in California, but after a lot of hours, I knew I wasn’t ready to compete against the best golfers in the world. I will continue to work hard, and plan to play at my foundation’s event, the Hero World Challenge, in Albany.
I would like to apologize and send my regrets to Safeway, the Turkish Airlines Open, the fans in California and Turkey and those that had hoped to watch me compete on TV. This isn’t what I wanted to happen, but I will continue to strive to be able to play tournament golf. I’m close, and I won’t stop until I get there.
While Tiger announced his return plans last month, he made it fairly clear that everything was still tentative. There were no commitments or confirmations made in the announcement, saying, “My rehabilitation is to the point where I’m comfortable making plans, but I still have work to do. Whether I can play depends on my continued progress and recovery. My hope is to have my game ready to go.”
So, that statement still left the door open that he might not be able to follow through on his plans. The door, for all intents and purposes, closed last Friday -- the deadline each week on the PGA Tour to commit to the following week’s tournament. Tiger, we thought, was now locked in and he’d be making his first start in 14 months at the Silverado Country Club in Napa. After the Friday deadline passes, a withdrawal is rare, unless a player is injured on site at the tournament during practice days.
Now comes the relatively stunning turn just three days later that Tiger will not play. On Friday, there was no official statement or posting on his website announcing that he had committed. The news came via the PGA Tour, which presumably got the notice from Woods’ camp at the deadline that he was going to stay in the field.
According to Tiger’s close friend and confidante, Notah Begay, Tiger just felt that his game was not ready for the return.
It’s an incredible letdown, no doubt. Woods’ last start came in Aug. 2015 at the Wyndham Championship in Greensboro, where the 14-time major winner played some of the best golf in what was a miserable and horrendous season. While his game looked improved, he did complain of hip soreness -- an ailment that he’d later find out was the same back issue that wrecked his preceding two seasons. Woods had his back operated on again and was insistent that this time he would not rush back, possibly even missing all of the 2016 season.
The intervening months have been rampant with return rumors, with some speculating and reporting that he might even tee it up at the Masters last April or The Players in May. Now it’s October and we’ve still no sign of Tiger. The Safeway is actually the first official event of next season, the 2016-17 campaign that begins in the fall with the “wraparound schedule.”
Now we’ll have to wait until at least December and the Hero World Challenge, a silly-season event with less than 20 players that benefits his foundation. That’s set to tee off the first week of December in the Bahamas.
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