When Tiger Woods plays this week (it’s now earlier than you may think!)
Tiger Woods on the range at the Albany Golf Course during the Hero World Challenge.
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Turn on your TVs, Tiger Woods faithful, on Saturday and Sunday.
But refresh your social media starting early Friday.
At 9 ET that morning, at the Ritz-Carlton Golf Club in Orlando, Fla., some 10 months after sustaining multiple injuries in a car crash, the 15-time major winner is playing golf in public again. In front of fans, too.
While Woods said last week that he was pairing with son Charlie for Saturday and Sunday’s parent-child PNC Championship, the event announced Monday that the elder Woods will also play in Friday’s pro-am. He and Matt Kuchar tee off at 9 a.m. off tee No. 1 (12-year-old Charlie is not playing ahead of the event), and with the gates opening at 7 a.m., you can expect a tweet or 10 from the grounds at the now-sold-out event.
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The announcement, too, gives somewhat more of a structure to Woods’ schedule this week.
While Woods is playing in Friday’s pro-am, he isn’t in Thursday’s. Still, if there’s indication from last year, when Team Woods made its PNC debut, don’t be surprised to see some range time from father and son — and shots like these. Friday brings the pro-am, and afterward, it was also announced on Monday, the elder Woods will meet with the media. (Which, of course, you can find full coverage of here!)
TV coverage begins Friday, too, albeit about six-and-a-half hours after the last pro-am groups are off, as Golf Channel will have a “Pro-Am Special” from 5-6 p.m. ET. From there, Golf Channel will show Saturday’s first round from the PNC from 1:30-2:30 p.m. ET, and NBC will pick it up from 2:30-5:30 p.m., and for Sunday’s final round, the coverage slot is an hour earlier — Golf Channel from 12:30-1 p.m., and NBC from 1-4:30 p.m.
As for tee times, while they won’t formally be announced until Thursday or Friday, you can assume that they will follow last year’s — Woods and son will go out last on Saturday in order to be on TV for the longest time possible, and the twosome will likely be grouped with Justin Thomas and his dad, Mike, who are close with the family. Sunday’s tee times, of course, will be dependent on the leaderboard — those in first go out last.
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As for what we can expect from Woods and his game, that answer won’t come for sure until he hits puts peg into ground later this week. But we’ve seen pieces — it’s been now just over three weeks since he tweeted out “making progress” alongside a three-second video of him swinging a wedge; and just over a week ago, he was hitting his entire bag on the range at the Hero World Challenge, an event he hosts in the Bahamas. It was at the Hero, too, where Woods talked to reporters for the first time since his accident, and he did offer some assessment of where his golf stood.
“I’ll put it to you this way: As far as playing at the Tour level, I don’t know when that’s going to happen,” Woods said. “Now, I’ll play a round here or there, a little hit and giggle, I can do something like that. I certainly like — you know, the USGA suggested Play It Forward. I really like that idea now. I don’t like the tees on the back. I like Play It Forward. Come on, let’s move it up, let’s move it up.
“To see some of my shots fall out of the sky a lot shorter than they used to is a little eye-opening, but at least I’m able to do it again. That’s something that for a while there it didn’t look like I was going to. Now I’m able to participate in the sport of golf. Now to what level, I do not know that. I’ll keep you abreast, all of you abreast, as progress continues to go on, whether I’ll be out here and at what level and when.”
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