When Tiger Woods spent about 20 minutes talking with the media Tuesday in his role as host of the Genesis Invitational at waterlogged Riviera Country Club, he did what a good host does.
He opened doors.
To possibly playing in the Masters in April.
To potentially being the next American Ryder Cup captain.
To confirming that major changes are coming to the PGA Tour schedule as early as next year.
Woods didn’t deal in certainties. But, at least on those subjects, he acknowledged they are all open-ended with decisions still to be made.
The most surprising nugget Woods dropped was the possibility of him teeing it up at Augusta National this year for the Masters. Due to various physical problems, the most recent being disc-replacement surgery last year, Woods has made just 10 PGA Tour starts in the last four years and none since the 2024 Open Championship 19 months ago.
Woods said he is able to hit full shots again while joking that he doesn’t always hit them well.
Asked directly if playing in the Masters this year is off the table, Woods said, “No.” Then he smiled.
“I’ve had a fused back and now a disc replacement, so it’s challenging. And now I entered a new decade [his 50s], so that number is starting to sink in and has us thinking about the opportunity to be able to play in a cart.” – Tiger Woods
He also indicated that playing on PGA Tour Champions remains a target of sorts for him, though he declined to offer a timeline on his return to competition.
“I’ve had a fused back and now a disc replacement, so it’s challenging,” he said. “And now I entered a new decade [his 50s], so that number is starting to sink in and has us thinking about the opportunity to be able to play in a cart.
“That’s something that, as I said, I won’t do out here on this tour because I don’t believe in it. But on the Champions tour, there’s certainly that opportunity.”
As for the Ryder Cup, Woods has been seen as the obvious choice to captain the U.S. side in Ireland in 2027 if he wants to do it. He opened some eyes in December when he was asked about the role and said no one from the PGA of America had contacted him about it.
Woods made it sound Tuesday as if the decision is his to make.
“They have asked me for my input on it, and I haven’t made my decision yet,” Woods said. “I’m trying to figure out what we’re trying to do with our tour. That’s been driving me hours upon hours every day and trying to figure out if I can actually do our team – our Team USA and our players and everyone that’s going to be involved in the Ryder Cup – if I can do it justice with my time.
“Serving on two boards and what I’m doing for the PGA Tour, I’m trying to figure out if I can actually do this and serve the people that are involved and serve them at an honorable level.”
In addition to being one of the player directors on the PGA Tour’s policy board, Woods is chairman of the future competition committee that is charged with piecing together the tour’s future competitive structure.
That involves reworking the schedule, likely moving into new, highly populated markets, shifting some events from their traditional dates and engineering a structure that will bring the best players together more often.
“I thought I spent a lot of hours practicing in my prime. It doesn’t even compare to what we’ve done in the boardroom. It’s been challenging. We’re trying to do the right thing. We’re making some great strides,” Woods said.
“So yes, we’re looking at things like that, looking to go to bigger markets later in the year for the playoffs. Just trying to make our competitive model better, and how do we do that.” – Tiger Woods
Even as Genesis and the PGA Tour were announcing an extension of the auto company’s tournament sponsorship through 2030, there are rumors that the Los Angeles event could be among those that move – perhaps landing in a redesigned late-summer window when the season culminates and the southern California weather is usually ideal.
The Los Angeles area is being inundated by multiple Pacific storms this week, though the forecast is for better conditions later in the week.
“You’re going to get weather not like this. That’s No. 1. We’re going to have perfect days. It’s always perfect in SoCal here in August,” Woods said.
“So yes, we’re looking at things like that, looking to go to bigger markets later in the year for the playoffs. Just trying to make our competitive model better, and how do we do that. I think that is one of the options (moving to later in the year) with Genesis. That certainly is on the table.”
It is expected that at least a draft of the future schedule will be unveiled during the Players Championship next month by tour CEO Brian Rolapp, but Woods said it won’t likely all come together by the start of next season.
“We would like to have it happen in 2027. We may have to roll it out over a couple-year period,” Woods said.
“We may not be able to implement all of it in 2027, but there will definitely be parts of it integrated or changed from what it is now in ’26 into ’27.”
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