Tiger Woods Reveals He Won't Play At Hero World Challenge

Tiger Woods has revealed that he will not be appearing at an event he hosts, the Hero World Challenge, in December.

The 15-time Major winner underwent the sixth back surgery of his career in September. However, it appears the tournament will come too soon for him to consider competing this year.

Woods revealed the news on X, where he also confirmed that three places in the field that hadn’t been filled will be taken by his friend Justin Thomas, former World No.1 Jason Day and PGA Tour Rookie of the Year nominee Nick Dunlap.

He wrote: “I am disappointed that I will not be able to compete this year at the Hero World Challenge, but always look forward to being tournament host and spending the week with @HeroMotoCorp. Excited to welcome our exemptions @JustinThomas34, @JDayGolf and @NickDunlap62 into the field.

Woods’ most recent operation was carried out to resolve the issue of back spasms, which had troubled him throughout the year. The procedure was a microdecompression surgery of the lumbar spine for nerve impingement in his lower back that removed a piece of tissue attached to his spine.

However, even though the 48-year-old revealed in a statement following the surgery that it had gone “smoothly,” no timeframe was given for his return. Nevertheless, he added: “I look forward to tackling this rehab and preparing myself to get back to normal life activities, including golf.”

There were doubts over his involvement at the Albany event in October when he wasn’t named in the initial field, although the fact that there were three spots to fill suggested he was holding out hope that he might make an appearance.

That is not to be, and it is still no clearer when we will next see him in action after another frustrating year on the course for the living legend.

Woods made his return from ankle surgery at the 2023 Hero World Challenge and beforehand expressed an ambition to play a tournament a month in 2024. That failed to materialize. Instead, he was limited to just five appearances before his latest surgery.

He withdrew from the second round of the Genesis Invitational in February with flu-like symptoms, and though there was encouragement with his performance at The Masters, particularly over the first two rounds as he made the cut, he wasn’t as successful at the following three Majors, the PGA Championship, the US Open and The Open, where he failed to make the weekend on each occasion.

Last week, Woods and son Charlie were also absent from the early PNC Championship field, which takes place on Saturday 21 and 22 December – just over two weeks after the Hero World Challenge, which will be held between 5 and 8 December.

Like the initial Hero World Challenge field, there are vacant places for two teams at the event, so there remains the possibility that he may return before the end of the year.