Tiger Woods has undoubtedly been the greatest golfer of the last 30 years, amassing 15 major victories between 1997 and 2019, a total only bested by Jack Nicklaus with 18.
But given his physical condition since his near fatal car crash back in February 2021, there are huge doubts that he’ll be able to return to major-winning form.
This year’s edition of The Match saw Woods team up with FedEx cup champion and current World No 1 Rory McIlroy against Jordan Spieth and Justin Thomas. Woods and McIlroy lost The Match 3&2 to the formidable pairing, with Woods walking gingerly whenever not in his golf cart.
Tiger’s first hole of golf in over two weeks…
Birdie. pic.twitter.com/VBhzB5B5Pm
— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) December 11, 2022
Woods was scheduled to compete in last weeks Hero World Challenge, but withdrew with plantar fasciitis. When it comes to his golfing game, he says there’s no issues at all.
“I can hit the golf ball and hit whatever shot you want, the walking just hurts”.
Woods also admitted right before The Match that he “hadn’t hit a ball in two and a half weeks” due to his foot injury.
It appears that the rehab on his right leg has stagnated since his comeback at The Masters in April. University of Stirling golf student Ben Brookes believes that the five time Masters’ winner is running out of major opportunities in his current condition.
“Seeing the way he was limping on the weekend, it doesn’t give me much hope that he can continue playing for a sustained period, especially since this was his first televised appearance since The Open in July.” The 21-year-old said.

“He’s clearly able to still perform to a high level, but to walk 72 holes over four days looks to be a different prospect entirely for Tiger at the moment,” he continued, “the hope is that come April his condition would’ve improved but I’ll be honest I’m not too confident. But who knows, The Masters comeback in 2019 shows he’s got incredible resilience and grit, so I’m praying he can show that again in the next few years at the majors.”
⛳️𝗧𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝘆𝗲𝗮𝗿𝘀 𝗮𝗱𝗱𝗶𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗼𝗳 𝘁𝗵𝗲 𝗺𝗮𝘁𝗰𝗵 𝘀𝗮𝘄 𝗧𝗶𝗴𝗲𝗿 𝗪𝗼𝗼𝗱𝘀 𝗺𝗮𝗸𝗲 𝗵𝗶𝘀 𝗳𝗶𝗿𝘀𝘁 𝘁𝗲𝗹𝗲𝘃𝗶𝘀𝗲𝗱 𝗮𝗽𝗽𝗲𝗮𝗿𝗮𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝘀𝗶𝗻𝗰𝗲 𝗦𝘁. 𝗔𝗻𝗱𝗿𝗲𝘄𝘀.
Here’s @JamieMonks8 on how he faired against Jordan Spieth and Justin Thomas pic.twitter.com/d0NgHQnBOk— Park Life Sport (@ParkLife_Sport) December 12, 2022
While we’re currently in the dark about Woods’ long term future in the professional game, the 46-year-old laid out his plans for 2022 at the Hero World Tour press conference last week.
“The goal is to play the major championships and maybe one or two more. Physically that’s all I can do. I don’t have much left in this leg.”
Golf cart sanctioned events are currently all Woods is able to muster at the moment, and he’ll be competing again at the PNC Championship this weekend with his son Charlie for a third year running.