{"id":8338,"date":"2026-02-18T03:40:02","date_gmt":"2026-02-17T22:10:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/wp1.niviyo.in\/index.php\/2026\/02\/18\/no-date-for-woods-return-but-masters-not-off-the-table\/"},"modified":"2026-02-18T03:40:02","modified_gmt":"2026-02-17T22:10:02","slug":"no-date-for-woods-return-but-masters-not-off-the-table","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp1.niviyo.in\/index.php\/2026\/02\/18\/no-date-for-woods-return-but-masters-not-off-the-table\/","title":{"rendered":"No date for Woods return but Masters &#8216;not off the table&#8217;"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>ByBen CollinsBBC Sport journalist<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Published20 minutes ago<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"#comments\">3 Comments<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Tiger Woods says competing at this year&#x27;s Masters is &quot;not off the table&quot; but the 15-time major champion still has no timetable for his return.<\/p>\n<p>Woods, who turned 50 on 30 December, <a href=\"\/sport\/golf\/articles\/cy505qvr762o\">underwent surgery in October<\/a> to replace a disc in his back.<\/p>\n<p>It was the latest in a series of operations and injuries that have kept the American sidelined since missing the cut at The Open in July 2024.<\/p>\n<p>&quot;It&#x27;s just one of those things where it&#x27;s each and every day, I keep trying, I keep progressing,&quot; said Woods.<\/p>\n<p>&quot;I keep working on it, trying to get stronger, trying to get more endurance in this body and trying to get it at a level at which I can play at the highest level again.&quot;<\/p>\n<p>Speaking at the Riviera Country Club near Los Angeles, where he hosts this week&#x27;s Genesis Invitational, Woods said he has progressed from chipping and putting practice and is now &quot;able to&quot; hit full shots.<\/p>\n<p>&quot;Not well every day, but I can hit them,&quot; he said.<\/p>\n<p>&quot;As far as the disc replacement, it&#x27;s just sore. It takes time. My body has been through a lot.&quot;<\/p>\n<p>Woods claimed his fifth Masters title in 2019, ending an 11-year major championship drought, and added that he had not ruled out competing at Augusta from 9-12 April.<\/p>\n<p>He suffered severe leg injuries in a 2021 car crash before undergoing a back operation in September 2024 and suffering a ruptured Achilles tendon last March.<\/p>\n<p>&quot;I&#x27;ve had a fused back and now a disc replacement, so it&#x27;s challenging,&quot; said the 50-year-old. &quot;Now I&#x27;ve entered a new decade so that number is starting to sink in and has us thinking about the opportunity to be able to play in a cart [on the Champions Tour].&quot;<\/p>\n<h2>Related topics<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"\/sport\/golf\">Golf<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h2>More on this story<\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"\/sport\/golf\/articles\/cj9yepjm0v4o\">\n<p>Woods laments slow recovery and has no return date<\/p>\n<p><\/a><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Published2 December 2025<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>No date for Woods return but Masters &#x27;not off the table&#x27;Image source, Getty ImagesImage caption, Tiger Woods has not yet been able to play during the current season of TGL, the simulated ind&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":8339,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"colormag_page_container_layout":"default_layout","colormag_page_sidebar_layout":"default_layout","footnotes":""},"categories":[47],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8338","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-decor"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp1.niviyo.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8338","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp1.niviyo.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp1.niviyo.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp1.niviyo.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=8338"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/wp1.niviyo.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8338\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp1.niviyo.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/8339"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp1.niviyo.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=8338"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp1.niviyo.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=8338"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp1.niviyo.in\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=8338"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}