PGA Tour winner drops Tiger Woods Champions Tour tip
After turning 50, Tiger Woods is now facing another career decision.
To PGA Tour Champions or not?
The answer to that question remains unclear, although many former PGA Tour greats have encouraged him to join the elite circuit.
Ernie Els said playing in it “can only be good” for Woods. Bernhard Langer and Jack Nicklaus predicted that he would end up playing with the seniors. Paul Azinger even argued that Woods might feel “obliged” to include it in the 54-hole round. PGA Tour Champions president Miller Brady said they are “ready” for Woods and the momentum he will bring if he decides the senior tour is his.
Stewart Cink told GOLF’s Jessica Marksbury that the PGA Tour Champions will be the perfect place for Woods to compete and stay sharp in the majors.
“[Woods] he has already made his legacy. He’s not going to come out here and like, recreate a new legacy,” Cink told GOLF. It would be a good way for him to test his body and see how things are going, prepare for his other tournaments, majors and so on. It would be great.”
While no one knows when – or if – Woods will make his debut on the PGA Tour Champions, PGA Tour winner Tommy Gainey, now playing on the PGA Tour Champions, believes he has an idea – or at least an idea – about when the 15-time major winner will hang it on the main circuit.
“There have been rumors that he’s going to play here,” Gainey said on SiriusXM PGA TOUR Radio. “I don’t know if any of the golf fans in TV land or on the radio have seen, but he signed a deal with Insperity.
“And Insperity has a tournament on the PGA Tour Champions. So, I’ll let people think what they want to think about that, but that tells me if he can play, he’ll play in that one.”
The Insperity Invitational is held May 4-10 in The Woodlands, Texas, which will give Woods enough time to recover from lumbar disc replacement surgery he underwent in October.
During a recent TGL match, Woods gave an update on his recovery and a timeline for his return to competition.
“I’m starting to make short irons, so that’s about it,” Woods said. “I need a little more than that to be able to play [on TGL]. At my speed right now, I might play the Stinger hole. Just take it off the tee. But no, I’m improving, which is good. I’m getting there and I’m getting stronger. It’s one of those things where it takes a long time for the bone to heal and the bone to stabilize.”
Woods ruptured his Achilles tendon while preparing for the Masters last year.
Gainey, who won the PGA Tour’s Hale Irwin Rookie of the Year Award last season, is looking forward to playing Woods on the big circuit once the 15-time major winner is healthy.
“The biggest thing for him is, I want him to be healthy,” Gainey said. “And if he’s healthy and playing out here, I’d love to go with him in the final round and have a chance to win a golf tournament against him. That would be a dream come true.”
“Everybody knows he was a man on the PGA Tour and he’s still a needle, in my opinion. I’m so happy he’s 50 because he’s going to bring more eyes to the PGA Tour Champions. And that can never hurt.”
PGA Tour Champions Player Director Steve Flesch knows what Woods’ presence will mean on the big circuit. They just hope to see it in the flesh.
“Every meeting is the same, I hope you play,” Felsch told GOLF’s Jessica Marksbury. “No one knows, I think we all agree that if he plays, he will play maybe five [tournaments]. He will never play 15, but if we can get 10 from him, that would be great. But no one knows.
“I mean, we all hope he does. But we also hope that if he decides to play, he’ll let the tournament directors know more than that, Friday night before the tournament. I think he’ll play the Majors he can play. But nobody really knows.”
No one knows, but Gainey believes that Woods has fallen into disarray with his plans.
