Tiger Woods announced his long-awaited return to the links on Wednesday.
He swings his clubs competitively again at the Safeway Open, which takes place on October 13-16, in Napa, California. The 14-time major winner seeks to play at the Turkish Airlines Open on November 3-6, in Antalya, Turkey, and the Hero World Challenge on December 1-4, in Albany, Bahamas. He also announced his intention to “participate” at the Tiger Woods Invitational, billed as a “private” golf and networking event, in early October.
Woods explained on his website:
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.
I’m looking forward to going to California for my foundation event and Safeway. I’m also excited to return to Turkey and Albany. It could be a fun fall.
It was difficult missing tournaments that are important to me, but this time I was smart about my recovery and didn’t rush it. It was great spending time with my children Sam and Charlie, and also working on a lot of projects including golf-course design, the upcoming 20th anniversary of my foundation and my book about the 1997 Masters. But I missed competing. I want to thank all the fans for their kindness and concern. I’ve been a pro about 20 years, and their support has never waned.
Woods last competed in a tournament at the Wyndham Championship more than a year ago. Two surgeries, lingering injuries, and rehab sidelined him since then. He offered periodic updates on his progress at his website throughout 2016. But the updates often raised more questions than they answered. On Wednesday Woods finally named a time and place for his anticipated return.
Woods sat in the top slot of the world golf rankings for most of the first decade of the century. He now ranks 711.
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