After Tiger Woods made his season debut in Tuesday’s final match of the TGL season, he left the door — however slightly — ajar on a return to Augusta National when the Masters begins in two weeks.
“I’ve been trying,” Woods said afterward. “This body just doesn’t recover like it did when I was 24 or 25.
“I want to play. I love the tournament. I love being there since I was 19 years old. I’m going to be there either way.”
Still, that optimism was quickly tempered. In a passing remark during an appearance on Fox News’ The Five on Thursday, it was suggested that Woods will not be in the field, casting uncertainty over whether he’ll be in the mix, looking for his sixth green jacket.
Woods, 50, is dating Vanessa Trump, 48, the ex-wife of President Donald Trump’s son, Donald Trump Jr.
“I love Tiger, but he won’t be there. Well, he’ll be there, but he won’t be playing in it,” Trump said, when asked who he’d be rooting for at this year’s event at Augusta National. He also neglected to pick a winner.
“They’re just great players,” Trump said. “It’s hard for me. If I pick somebody, I’m going to have enemies, I’m going to have 10 guys who won’t speak to me.”
Woods had just nine swings in his TGL appearance on Tuesday as his Jupiter Links GC squad couldn’t slow Justin Rose, Sahith Theegala and Tommy Fleetwood in the championship match. Still, the moment carried weight. It marked his first competitive appearance since tearing his Achilles in March 2025, and seemed a small but significant step back onto a competitive stage that has long felt like home.
Woods underwent lumbar disc replacement surgery in his L4/5 Lumbar spine for lower back symptoms back in October. The surgery was performed by Dr. Sheeraz Qureshi and his team at the Hospital for Special Surgery in New York.
Of course, this marked just the latest in a long line of surgeries Woods has undergone in recent years, mostly to his knees and back. In Sept. of 2024, he had another back procedure. He won the 2008 U.S. Open with a twice-fractured left leg, for example.
A severely broken leg and crushed ankle after a car crash in California was a devastating blow in 2021, especially since Woods had won the Masters just two years prior.
Woods last teed it up in competition (aside from TGL) on July 19, 2024, when he missed the cut at the Open Championship.
