Tiger Woods Pumps Brakes On Hype Over Potential Masters Return

With less than a month to go until The Masters, people want to know whether 15-time Major winner Tiger Woods will be in the field at Augusta National. At this stage, no one knows. Apparently, not even the man himself.

Woods - playing the role of conductor - perhaps inadvertently allowed a hype train carrying excited fans to leave the station last month when he admitted that his appearance at the first men's Major of the year was not off the table.

That was despite having not played a competitive tournament since the 2024 Open Championship, where he missed the cut.

In the meantime, Woods has suffered a torn Achilles and a seventh back surgery before turning 50, with some people expecting the California-born pro to graduate onto the PGA Tour Champions instead of coming back to the main circuit.

But once Woods shared that he had started hitting full shots again, it was widely suggested that the 82-time PGA Tour winner may return to play alongside Scottie Scheffler and co. in the coming weeks.

However, speaking after Jupiter Links' semi-final victory over Boston Common in TGL on Tuesday night, Woods suggested his comeback might not be as soon as some had hoped for.

He said: "I said I've been working on it. Sometimes I have good days, sometimes I have bad days. Disk replacement is not a lot of fun. Will Zalatoris went through it, he had two levels done, and it takes time.

"So as I said, I've had a lot of procedures prior to that, so the body doesn't quite heal like it was when I was 24. Doesn't quite bounce back. I have good days when I can pretty much do anything, and other days where it's hard to just to move around."

Woods' positive mobility while enjoying his teammates' victory at SoFi Center on Tuesday night was evident, with a number of passionate celebrations on display - even if an actual swing was not.

Some fans had hoped to see the Sun Day Red founder make a soft return at a TGL match this term, but Woods indicated he was unlikely to play in the Finals next week.

Woods said: "Well, I think that I have been trying to play each and every one of these matches. I've been trying to come back. But it just hasn't worked out that way.

"I've had a bad run of injuries last year. I think it's been a year and a few days since I blew out my Achilles. And so then I've had two back operations. So it's been a little rough going.

"But the guys here, this team, we have so much fun, I really don't want to screw up the lineup, I just want these guys to keep playing."

Jupiter Links will take on Los Angeles in the best-of-three Finals at SoFi Center on Monday, March 23 and Tuesday, March 24.