Golf fans everywhere are asking the same thing: when will Tiger Woods be back on the course?
It was in October when Woods had his seventh back surgery, raising fresh concerns about his future.
But now that his doctors have cleared him to start chipping and putting, there is renewed hope. If history has shown us anything, it is that doubting Tiger usually ends up looking foolish.
Even when he is not competing, Tiger remains one of golf’s biggest names. No one draws attention like he does.
While there have been whispers about him taking on the 2027 Ryder Cup captaincy, his immediate focus is getting healthy again.
Reports also suggest Woods is considering playing some PGA Tour Champions events once he turns 50 later this year.
But the big question remains: will we see him back on the main Tour anytime soon, or perhaps making an appearance in the TGL?
What Tiger Woods told Kevin Kisner about his potential PGA Tour return
Woods, even at this stage of his career, still has the mindset to want to go out and win more tournaments before calling time on his career.
But for the 49-year-old, it is more important that he looks after his health first and only comes back when he feels fit enough to do so.
Kisner appeared on the Trey Wingo Podcast and was asked whether or not he thought Tiger would come back to competitive action in 2026.
“Well, we’re hoping that he’ll come back and play the last few TGL matches with us later this spring, early March or so,” he replied.
“It depends how the rehab goes. I talked to Tiger a good bit and he’s starting to feel a bit better, you’ve seen him moving around at Albany this week.
“Hopefully he’s just pain-free, that’s the biggest key. Even if he had to come back and play a few Champions Tour events just to get his feet wet and ride in a cart, that would be cool, right? That would be a huge boost to that Tour.
“We all want to see him play and we’ll welcome him with open arms, but we want him to be healthy when he does it.”
Tiger Woods explains how his rehab is going
Woods admitted that his recovery is not moving as quickly as he had hoped, but he remains focused on the process.
The 82-time PGA Tour winner explained: “It’s not as fast as I’d like it to be. It was a good thing to do, something I needed to happen, it just takes time and dedication to the rehab process.
“Unfortunately I’ve been through this rehab process before and it’s step-by-step. Once I get a feel for the recovery process, I can decide where and when to play.
“Let me get back to playing again, let me do that and I’ll figure out the schedule. I just got cleared last week to chip and putt.
“It’s been six weeks last Friday [since the operation] and it’s been slow.
“You can’t really do much with a disc replacement, now we have the OK to start cranking it up in the gym and start strengthening.”
Woods fans are worried he might be rushing his return before he is completely healed. There is hope that his veteran experience will help him navigate this period and that he still has another competitive run in him.
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