After recently turning 50, Tiger Woods now faces another career decision.
To PGA Tour Champions or not?
The answer to that question is still unclear, although many former PGA Tour greats have encouraged him to tee it up on the senior circuit.
Ernie Els said playing on it “can only be beneficial” to Woods. Bernhard Langer and Jack Nicklaus have predicted he’ll end up playing with the seniors. Paul Azinger even argued Woods might feel an “obligation” to tee it up on the 54-hole circuit. PGA Tour Champions president Miller Brady said they are “ready” for Woods and the onslaught of attention he’d bring should he decide the senior tour is for him.
Stewart Cink told GOLF’s Jessica Marksbury that the PGA Tour Champions would be an ideal spot for Woods to compete and stay sharp for the majors.
“[Woods] already made his legacy. He’s not going to come out here and like, recreate a new legacy,” Cink told GOLF. “But I think he would be able to strip it down to its purest form, and that’s just competition, and testing himself out. It would be a good way for him to test out his body and see how things are going, getting ready for some of his other tournaments, majors and whatnot. It would be huge.”
While no one knows when — or if — Woods will make his PGA Tour Champions debut, PGA Tour winner Tommy Gainey, who now plays on the PGA Tour Champions, believes he has an idea — or at least an inkling — about when the 15-time major winner will peg it on the senior circuit.
“There’s been rumours he’s going to play out here,” Gainey said on SiriusXM PGA TOUR Radio. “I don’t know if any of the golf fans in TV land or radio land have seen, but he signed a deal with Insperity. You could see it on his sleeve, so that’s good news.
“And Insperity have a tournament on the PGA Tour Champions. So, I’ll let people think maybe what they want to think on that, but that tells me that if he’s able to play, he’s going to play in that one.”
The Insperity Invitational is held May 4-10 at The Woodlands, Texas, which could give Woods enough time to heal from the lumbar disc replacement surgery he had in October.
During the latest TGL match, Woods provided an update on his recovery and the timeline for his return to competition.
“I’m moving up to short irons, so that’s about it,” Woods said. “I need a little bit more than that to be able to play [on TGL]. At my speed right now, I could probably play the Stinger hole. Just kind of roll it off the tee. But no, I’m progressing, which is nice. I’m getting there and getting stronger. It’s just one of those things where it just takes so much time for the bone to heal and the bone to set.”
Woods ruptured his Achilles’ tendon while preparing for the Masters last year.
Gainey, who won the Hale Irwin Rookie of the Year Award on the PGA Tour Champions last season, is looking forward to hopefully playing alongside Woods on the senior circuit once the 15-time major winner is healthy.
“The biggest thing for him is, I want him to get healthy,” Gainey said. “And when he does get healthy and plays out here, I would love to be paired with him going into the final round with a chance to win a golf tournament against him. That would be a dream come true.
“Everyone knows he was the man on the PGA Tour and he’s still the needle, in my opinion. I’m just so happy he’s 50 because he’s going to bring more eyes to the PGA Tour Champions. And that’s never going to hurt.”
PGA Tour Champions Player Director Steve Flesch knows how much Woods’ presence would mean to the senior circuit. They just hope they get see it in the flesh.
“Every meeting we’re like, hopefully he plays,” Felsch told GOLF’s Jessica Marksbury. “Nobody knows. I think we all are in consensus that if he would play, he’d play maybe five [tournaments]. He’s certainly not going to play 15, but if we could get 10 out of him, that’d be fantastic. But nobody knows.
“I mean, we all hope he does. But we also hope if he decides to play that he lets the tournament directors know more than like, the Friday night before the tournament. My guess is he’ll play the majors that he can. But nobody really knows.”
Nobody knows, but Gainey believes Woods has dropped some breadcrumbs about his plans.
