The timeline of memorable events in Tiger Woods’ career:
- August 1996 — Wins third straight U.S. Amateur and turns professional the following week.
- October 1996 — Wins the Las Vegas Invitational for his first PGA Tour victory in his fifth professional tournament.
- April 1997 — Wins the Masters at age 21 with a record score (270) and a record margin of victory (12 shots) to become its youngest champion.
- June 2000 — Wins the U.S. Open at Pebble Beach by 15 shots, the largest margin in major championship history.
- April 2001 — Completes the “Tiger Slam,” winning the Masters to become the only player to hold all four professional majors at the same time.
- October 2004 — Marries Elin Nordegren.
- June 2007 — Nordegren gives birth to their first child, daughter Samantha, a day after Woods finishes runner-up in the U.S. Open.
- June 2008 — Wins the U.S. Open in a playoff at Torrey Pines for his 14th major, four short of the record held by Jack Nicklaus. A week later, he has reconstructive surgery on his left knee to repair a torn ACL and two stress fractures in his left tibia. He is out for eight months.
- February 2009 — Wife gives birth to their son, Charlie.
- August 2009 — Loses a two-shot lead in the final round of the PGA Championship to Y.E. Yang, the first time Woods has lost a 54-hole lead in a major.
- November 2009 — Crashes his SUV into a tree and a fire hydrant outside his Windemere, Florida home. Within a few weeks, his personal life unravels with reports of multiple extramarital affairs and he loses major sponsorship endorsements. He spends 45 days in a clinic and does not return to golf until the 2010 Masters.
- August 2010 — His divorce is finalized.
- March 2012 — Wins the Arnold Palmer Invitational for his first PGA Tour victory since the scandal in his personal life.
- April 2014 — Has back surgery a week before the Masters and misses Augusta National for the first time.
- August 2014 — Misses the cut in the PGA Championship and says he will take the rest of the year off, including the Ryder Cup, to get healthy.
- February 2015 — Looking like an amateur with his short game, shoots 82 in the Phoenix Open to miss the cut. A week later at Torrey Pines, withdraws after 11 holes. Announces he is taking time off to work on his game, saying that “my play, and scores, are not acceptable for tournament golf.”
- April 2015 — Returns at the Masters, his chipping issues gone, and ties for 17th.
- June 2015 — Shoots an 85 in the third round of the Memorial, his highest score as a professional.
- August 2015 — Misses the cut in his third straight major at the PGA Championship.
- September 2015 — Has a second back surgery.
- October 2015 — Has a third procedure on his back.
- December 2015 — In a somber press conference at his Hero World Challenge, Woods says of his future, “So where is the light at the end of the tunnel? I don’t know.” He says he wants to play again and anything else he achieves will be “gravy.”
- January 2017 — Makes first PGA Tour start since 2015 and misses the cut at Torrey Pines.
- April 2017 — Has a fourth back surgery, this one to fuse his lower back.
- May 2017 — Arrested and briefly jailed in Jupiter, Florida, on suspicion of DUI. Police find him asleep behind the wheel of his car in the early morning with the engine running. He attributes it to a bad combination of pain medication.
- October 2017 — Woods pleads guilty to reckless driving and agrees to enter a diversion program. Prosecutors drop the DUI charge under the plea agreement.
- December 2017 — Returns to competition at his Hero World Challenge, posts three rounds in the 60s and ties for ninth against an 18-man field, 10 shots behind.
- July 2018 — Takes the lead in the final round of the British Open, only to make double bogey on the 12th hole and finish in a tie for sixth.
- August 2018 — Closes with a 64, his lowest final round ever in a major, and is runner-up to Brooks Koepka in the PGA Championship.
- September 2018 — Wins the Tour Championship for his 80th career victory on the PGA Tour, leaving him two shy of the record held by Sam Snead.
- April 2019 — Wins the Masters for his fifth green jacket and 15th major title, his first in 11 years. He moves within three victories of Jack Nicklaus’ record for major championships.
- December 2020 — Has a fifth back surgery, a microdiscectomy.
- Feb. 23, 2021 — Is in a single-car accident in suburban Los Angeles and is extricated from the rolled over vehicle, suffering leg injuries that require surgery.
- Nov. 21, 2021 — His official social media accounts share a video of Tiger hitting a shot with a wedge.
- Dec. 8, 2021 — Tiger announces he’ll play the PNC Championship with son Charlie.
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Tiger Woods’ comeback announcement reminds us of golf’s world order
The attention paid to Tiger Woods’ PNC comeback should put the entire golf world on notice.
Lost in the breathless scrutiny surrounding Tiger Woods’ potential comeback was one answer he gave in last week’s Bahamas press conference: his stance on breakaway leagues.
Asked what advice he would give a Tour pro considering Greg Norman’s endeavors — and, more generally, PGA Tour alternatives — Woods took the question head-on.
“It’s going to be his decision, period,” he said. “I’ve decided for myself that I’m supporting the PGA Tour; that’s where my legacy is. I’ve been fortunate enough to have won 82 events on this tour and 15 major championships and been a part of the World Golf Championships, the start of them and the end of them. So I have an allegiance to the PGA Tour.
“And I understand that some of the comparisons are that this is very similar to when Arnold and Jack broke off from the PGA of America to start the Tour. I don’t see it that way. I think the Tour has done a fantastic job, Jay’s done an unbelievable job during a very difficult time during the pandemic when there was ample opportunity for players to leave, but we were the first sporting tour to restart…I think the Tour is in great hands, they’re doing fantastic, and prize money’s going up. It’s just not guaranteed money like most sports are. It’s just like tennis, you have to go out there and earn it.”
That was Woods firmly planting his stake in the ground, and it mattered. There was a clarity to his words. I’m supporting the PGA Tour… I don’t see it that way…The Tour is in great hands. It seemed suddenly obvious that in this time of which-league-will-survive limbo, the PGA Tour had an elephant on its side of the see-saw. Most top players have been publicly taking a wait-and-see approach, and Woods throwing his weight behind the Ponte Vedra establishment means a great deal.
After all, there have been two underlying questions to the breakaway league discussion:
- Which golfers actually matter?
- Which events actually matter?
On Wednesday morning, when Tiger Woods announced that his return to (semi-?) competitive golf will come at next week’s PNC Championship, we were reminded of those answers.
- Tiger Woods.
- The events Tiger Woods plays.
For some two-and-a-half decades these have been the terms of professional golf. The tournaments that “matter” have been largely dictated by one player. The real start of the PGA Tour season came at Torrey Pines because Woods didn’t usually play in Hawaii. Any event sponsored by Buick was officially a big deal. Hell, he made Firestone cool. When he showed up last-minute at Tampa in 2018, suddenly he made the Valspar a big deal, too. In terms of fan attention, where will the PNC Championship rank among this year’s events? Fifth? Fourth? First?
We’ve endured Woods’ hiatuses before — his Tour presence has been sporadic since 2008 — but he has always served as the lead actor whose performance lifted up those of the supporting cast. Phil Mickelson has proven a fantastic foil; the sidekick to Woods’ hero. Sergio Garcia has been an occasional antagonist. Potential heirs have emerged: McIlroy, Spieth, Morikawa. Others have emerged for bit parts, like Stephen Ames and Rory Sabbatini. Where does The Office go without Steve Carrell? Where does a Batman movie go without Batman?
Of course, Woods playing the PNC Championship has very little to do with his competitive golf future. He has made it clear that he’s not close to tournament-ready. His PNC appearance is likely only possible due to the approved use of a golf cart. And he said he never again expects to play a full Tour schedule. The terms are different this time around.
But Woods is still the center of the golf universe. If he considers playing the Memorial, boom! That’s an important tournament. Makes his debut at the Open Championship? That’s the biggest major. Waits until next year’s Hero World Challenge? Step aside, NFL. The sports world is headed to the Bahamas. Let’s take it a step further: The John Deere Classic has greater sports relevance because it is a part of the same Tour on which Woods plies his craft.
None of this is meant to ignore the possibility that several top pros are seriously considering a departure from the Tour. They could leave. But perhaps Rory McIlroy had it right, albeit unintentionally, when he said last week that golfers “feel like they’re pawns at the minute in this big global game of golf.” There are forces competing for their services. The PGA Tour. A breakaway Tour. A new-format Premier Golf League. A new Netflix show. These are pawns in high demand. Now the king is back. The rest of the board moves around him.
Everything about Woods’ PNC return will have an undercurrent of nostalgia. It’s a tournament that highlights figures who featured in his career: David Duval, Mark O’Meara, Vijay Singh, Padraig Harrington. The basis of the event is the past accomplishments of these major champions and their off-course identities as sons, daughters, parents. It’s a reminder of the golfers who have been important these past decades.
But this event in particular nods to the future, too. There’s Nelly Korda making her event debut after a superstar season on the LPGA. There’s Little John Daly, now a promising college freshman, now leading his dad rather than the other way around. And there’s Charlie Woods, the one primarily responsible for his father’s reappearance, ready to pound drivers, wear red and talk smack to Justin Thomas.
And there at the center of it all will be Tiger Woods. He is at the center of the game’s past. His announcement and the golf world’s reaction makes it clear he’s golf’s present. And while we can’t predict his level of participation, Woods is golf’s future, too.
There’s still nobody like him.
The two friends used to play practice rounds until Woods said he didn’t ask enough questions! Bubba shares the lessons he picked up from playing together and being around the 15 major winner.
