Who He Is: PGA Tour member, World Golf Hall of Famer
SI Golf Rank: 1 (Bob Harig), 5 (Gabby Herzig), 2 (Alex Miceli), 2 (Jeff Ritter), 2 (John Schwarb)
Why He’s Here: It was a year without any of the championship hardware that Woods is so accustomed to accumulating, but to judge it by trophies is missing the point. Woods savored his own victories by simply coming back.
The idea of him competing at the Masters seemed absurd as late as February, as he had given no indication he would be ready to return. But somehow, Woods found the will. He made a clandestine trip to Augusta National a week prior to the tournament that was tracked by internet flight plan sleuths. He then not only played in the tournament, but remarkably made the cut, finishing 47th.
Other Top Newsmakers: No. 3 Phil Mickelson | No. 4 Scottie Scheffler | No. 5 Jay Monahan | No. 6 Cameron Smith | No. 7 Greg Norman | No. 8 Dustin Johnson | No. 9 Patrick Reed | No. 10 Tom Kim | No. 11 Lydia Ko | No. 12 Justin Thomas | No. 13 Alan Shipnuck | No. 14 Jennifer Kupcho | No. 15 Matt Fitzpatrick | No. 16 Keith Pelley | No. 17 Judge Beth Labson Freeman | No. 18 Max Homo | No. 19 Rose Zhang | No. 20 Henrik Stenson
But it was clear on the final day that Woods was nowhere near ready. The longer he traversed the Augusta hills, the worse he looked. The lower right leg was giving him fits, and the limp became more pronounced. Finishing as he did was admirable.
Woods then headed to the PGA Championship at Southern Hills, where he birdied two of the final seven holes to make the cut before withdrawing after the third round. He skipped the US Open but made it to his ultimate goal—the 150th playing of the British Open, held at the Old Course in St. Andrews. Despite seemingly his best lead-in preparation of any of the tournaments, Woods looked his worst, missing the cut by a good margin but giving those in attendance a great memory as he triumphantly walked across the Swilcan Bridge to cheering multitudes as he played the final hole.
After several months away, Woods disclosed that he had two further surgeries on his leg this year, although he would not say when and where. He had to skip the Hero World Challenge, where he planned to return, due to plantar fasciitis. And expressed frustration over his plight as he felt his game was good.
Along the way, Woods took a prominent behind-the-scenes role in working with the PGA Tour to push back against the LIV Golf threat, helping formulate plans to better compensate the top players as well as offer more tournaments with stronger fields. He also won the Player Impact Program (PIP) for the second year, earning $15 million.
2023 Outlook: Tiger said at the Hero World Challenge that the best-case scenario for him going forward is to play “the majors and maybe one or two more.” The first possibility would seemingly be the Genesis Invitational, Feb. 16-19. He hosts the event for his foundation. Given his most recent setback, that is no guarantee. Could he play the Players Championship (he has two years remaining on his five-year exemption for winning the 2019 Masters) three weeks later? The Masters follows four weeks after that and would seemingly be another goal. Given that he grew up outside of Los Angeles, the US Open at Los Angeles Country Club would also be a goal, along with the Open at Royal Liverpool, where he won in 2006.
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