This Week In Golf: Rory McIlroy, Scottie Scheffler And Viktor Hovland Headline Different Events Plus The (Sort Of) Return Of Tiger Woods

This Week In Golf: Jonny Leighfield’s regular look at the biggest stories in professional golf, tournament previews and other key details you need to know.

Despite the fact that it's now December and very much winter time in a lot of key golfing markets, the coming days represent a very busy and fascinating time in the sport.

Although there are no pro events on the women's side and there is a break on the Asian Tour, fans still have their choice of three big tournaments to choose from otherwise.

And, in keeping with 'silly season', one of those is an unofficial PGA Tour event with a limited field and a $5 million purse. Yet, to add further silliness, it's not even the most lucrative tournament in pro golf thanks to one of two concurrent DP World Tour events.

So, to try and make sense of it all, we've listed some of the biggest stories this week in golf below.

TIGER WOODS IS BACK (HOSTING ONLY)

For the first time in several months, Tiger Woods spoke publicly ahead of this week's Hero World Challenge, which he hosts at Albany Golf Club in The Bahamas.

Although nowhere near competing again, Woods - who says recovery from a third surgery in the past 13 months has been "slow" - will be on site through the tournament and is set to pass the trophy across to this year's champion.

The 49-year-old, who turns 50 on December 30, has admitted he won't be playing competitively any time soon and would not be drawn on where exactly he plans to compete once he's back fit.

He did, however, mention that he was looking forward to taking the Genesis Invitational back to Riviera Country Club next February, which could well be the next time we hear from the 15-time Major winner.

THREE STARS PLAYING THREE DIFFERENT EVENTS

As I mentioned earlier, it's a strange week in men's pro golf. You may have seen Elliott Heath's excellent opinion piece asking if pro golf is shooting itself in the foot recently.

Basically, there are three pretty big events all going on over the same days. Although, somewhat helpfully, they're not all on at exactly the same time.

First, the Australian Open (featuring Rory McIlroy) is taking place at Royal Melbourne Golf Club for the Stonehaven Cup - an event that will award the winner spots in both The Masters and The Open Championship.

Then there is the Nedbank Golf Challenge, which has a $6 million prize purse to be shared out among the 66 players involved - one of which is Viktor Hovland (as well as Joost Luiten).

Last, but by no means least, the Tiger Woods-hosted Hero World Challenge is set to feature the likes of Scottie Scheffler, JJ Spaun and Keegan Bradley. The 20-man field holds a $5 million payout overall.

In short, there's a lot of golf going on over the next few days and not all of your favorite players are playing against each other. Hardly a new problem, though, is it?...

TWO BIG NAMES BACK AFTER LONG LAY-OFFS

Speaking of big names playing different events, Will Zalatoris and Jordan Spieth are both making long-awaited returns this week - only not in the same tournament.

Zalatoris is joining Hovland and co. at the Nedbank Golf Challenge following a six-month lay-off due to back surgery while Spieth is lining up at the Hero World Challenge, marking his first appearance since August.

TOMMY FLEETWOOD HITS NEW HEIGHTS

Everyone's favorite English golfer, Tommy Fleetwood, was confirmed as having moved up to World No.3 - a career best - on Monday.

Fleetwood overtook Xander Schauffele despite not playing since the DP World Tour Championship, but the average-points figure from over the past two years tipped in his favor and he's now sat behind only McIlroy and Scheffler in the men's game.

The above news will have been warmly welcomed at TaylorMade, too, with the brand now equipping each of the top-three players.

THE OPEN'S LAST-CHANCE QUALIFYING EVENT DETAILS EMERGE

This should be really exciting. The R&A has announced details for a last-chance qualifying event between 12 players ahead of The Open Championship at Royal Birkdale next year.

On Monday, July 13 - days before the first tee shot in north-west England - a dozen players will battle it out over 18 holes for just one place in the final men's Major of the season.

The limited field will be made up of the top two non-exempt players in the OWGR as of July 6, the runner-up in The Amateur Championship (providing they retain their amateur status), anyone who missed out in a play-off at Final Qualifying, players who finished one position behind those who secured Open spots at Final Qualifying and players who were tied for a qualifying place (but missed out) in any of the Open Qualifying Series events - excluding the Scottish Open - but did not make it due to a lower position in the OWGR.

MINI TWIGS

• It was confirmed that Laurie Canter had re-joined the LIV Golf League as part of the all-English Majesticks GC. As a result, Dan Brown claimed one of the 10 dual-card spots on the PGA Tour in 2026
• Rory McIlroy moved to the bookmakers' favorite for BBC Sports Personality of the Year ahead of F1 driver Lando Norris and European Championship winner Chloe Kelly
• Scottie Scheffler was pictured using the new TaylorMade Qi4D and fairway wood during a practice round ahead of the Hero World Challenge
• Justin Thomas told the No Laying Up podcast that Team USA were being "fought with" over green speeds at Bethpage Black during the Ryder Cup
• PGA Tour Q-School Second Stage is currently ongoing (December 2-5). Final Stage is due to take place December 11-14, with only five cards up for grabs
• Keegan Bradley called the aftermath of Team USA's Ryder Cup defeat "the darkest time of my life"
• Joe Greiner, former caddie for Max Homa and Collin Morikawa, has teamed up with Akshay Bhatia for the Hero World Challenge and told Golfweek he plans to stick with the left-hander for next season