Tiger Woods will not play the 2016 Masters, says he’s not ‘physically ready’

Tiger Woods, in a somewhat surprising turn of events given the speculation that his return to golf was imminent, said on Friday evening he will not go for his fifth green jacket at the 2016 Masters.

Woods had kept the golf world guessing about his plans for an Augusta comeback right up until he made the announcement on his website that he was still not ready to attempt a comeback.

”After assessing the present condition of my back, and consulting with my medical team, I’ve decided it’s prudent to miss this year’s Masters.

“I’ve been hitting balls and training daily, but I’m not physically ready. I’ve said all along that this time I need to be cautious and do what’s best for my long-term health and career. Unfortunately, playing Augusta next week wouldn’t be the right decision.”

Tiger did add that he plans to make the trip to Augusta to attend Tuesday night’s Champions Dinner and “see old friends.”

Woods last played competitively in August, when he finished in a tie for 10th place at the Wyndham Championship. Since that time, the 14-time major winner has undergone two back surgeries, which put him on the bench and also led to one of the most depressing press conferences of his 20-year career.

Woods sounded grim about the future when he said in December there was “really nothing I can look forward to, nothing I can build towards.

“It’s literally just day by day and week by week and time by time,” he said from his Hero World Challenge. “Where is the light at the end of the tunnel? I don’t know.”

That light is apparently not in Augusta, where the public will not have a chance to see Woods swing a club for the first time since he posted a video of himself timidly hitting a 9-iron into a simulator with the message, “progressing nicely” after his most recent procedure.

Given his multiple surgeries in the last two years, it seemed highly unlikely that Tiger, who won his fourth of four green jackets in 2005, would make it to the first tee at Augusta on April 7.

Many Tiger watchers believed he attempted to come back too soon from his first microdiscectomy in March 2014, when he carded missed cut, 69th, withdrawal, and MC in four subsequent events that season. He scuffled through an equally terrible 2015 campaign that included a couple of breaks from playing and a T17 at the Masters.

With Tiger, anything is possible -- after all, his last major victory came in 2008 when he famously won the U.S. Open while playing with a broken leg and torn up knee. Well, anything except a Masters start this year for the 14-time major winner.