Tiger Woods withdraws from the 2016 PGA Championship

Tiger Woods, to no surprise of the golf world, said Tuesday via the PGA of America that he will miss next week’s PGA Championship.

“We have been in contact with Tiger’s agent, Mark Steinberg, and he informed us today that our four-time PGA Champion will be unable to join us at Baltusrol Golf Club next week for the 98th PGA Championship,” according to a statement from the PGA.

Woods’ WD from the final major of the 2016 season marks the first time in the career of the winner of 14 majors that he will have missed all four prestigious events. Injuries had forced him to skip two straight majors three times in the past due to injuries.

After prevailing at the 2008 U.S. Open, Woods left golf for knee surgery, which caused him to pass up that year’s British Open and PGA. Three years later, Woods missed the U.S. Open and Open Championship after finishing T4 at the Masters, again because he needed leg surgery. He missed the cut after coming back for the 2011 PGA.

Woods, in 2014, took himself out of the Masters for the first time in his professional career to undergo the first of three microdiscectomy procedures on his back. He was out for the U.S. Open as well but returned to finish 69th at the British and miss the cut at the PGA.

This year, in several reports, Woods has offered no date for when he might return to competition when he has withdrawn from the Masters, U.S. Open, and Open Championship — which has not stopped oddsmakers from giving him a chance to win that elusive 15th major.

In missing the last major on the 2016 schedule, Woods put a period on his officially lost summer. Once considered a lock to break Jack Nicklaus’ 18-major championship record, Tiger has not lifted a major trophy since his one-legged victory in the ’08 U.S. Open. Since returning from missing the first two majors in 2014, Tiger has compiled an exceedingly un-Tiger-like record of 17th (2015 Masters), 69th (2014 Open), and FOUR missed cuts.

Woods also last won a PGA Tour competition in 2013, with the past three seasons nearly total washouts as he struggled with nerve pain in his back. The last time he teed it up in competition was nearly a year ago at the Wyndham Championship, where he finished T10. Since then, he has posted updates on his health on his website and Twitter, each one saying he was making progress.

This latest statement prolongs the guessing game as to when, or if, we’ll see him again in a PGA Tour contest. For sure, it won’t be this season, as Steinberg pointed out to GolfChannel.com.

The next “season” technically starts in October, with seven events across October and November. So, while he’s done for this season, we may see him make his return before the year is out.