CLEARWATER, Fla. – As Tiger Woods discussed the next phase of his career Tuesday during a news conference at the Hero World Challenge in the Bahamas, some of his fellow middle-aged professionals were doing the same at a golf club in Florida, about 350 miles away.
In his morning session with reporters, Woods reflected on his recovery from a lumbar disc replacement in his lower back in October (“not as quickly as I would like”) and what his 2026 playing schedule might look like (“I’m a long way from that part of it”); Meanwhile, his colleagues — the six members of the U.S. team competing in the Skechers World Champions Cup here at Feather Sound Country Club — speculated about what PGA Tour Champions events could look like if Woods, who turns 50 on Dec. 30, were to join the fray next year, even for just a few starts.
“I think we should potentially challenge him,” Jim Furyk said wryly. “I don’t think he can hang around here during these three-round tournaments. Maybe he’ll get angry and play a lot of them. I don’t think he can handle Stewart Cink, to be honest.”
To which Cink replied: “He has treated me before. It didn’t seem to be a problem.”
But then Steve Flesch, one of four player directors on the PGA Tour Champions board, offered a more nuanced view, noting that everyone from the players to the tournament directors to PGA Tour Champions president Miller Brady is eager to know Woods’ intentions.
“But I mean, with this latest surgery, and everyone here knows it, Tiger just doesn’t really share much,” Flesch said. “Other than maybe a few guys here who are good friends with him or talk to him occasionally, he just doesn’t share his plans.”
Flesch reminded the audience that Woods has always been like that, during his regular playing days when he was infamous for not committing to events until minutes before Friday’s 5 p.m. deadline. “I think he would usually tie around 4:58,” Flesch said. “Other than the events you knew he was going to play, like Memorial, Torrey Pines, his starters, he would rarely commit too early.”
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“That poses a major challenge for our tournament directors,” said Flesch. “That’s a big scale to change if he could suddenly decide to go to Des Moines, Iowa, which I don’t know if he would, or to Madison for Steve’s event.”
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Flesch was referring to the American Family Insurance Championship, which Steve Stricker will host at TPC Wisconsin in June. These smaller-market events aren’t used to the kind of activity that Tiger Woods – yes, even a souped-up 50-year-old Tiger Woods – brings.
“That’s a big difference in structure,” Flesch continued. “A lot of people would come to see Tiger Woods because he hasn’t been to any of these markets yet. We’re hoping he would play some of them. Rumor has it he’s probably focusing on the majors, but selfishly to help our Tour, we’d like to see him go to Madison and Des Moines and some of the smaller markets where it would really have a big impact, where a lot of people who have never seen Tiger Woods play golf could see him in person. Your guess is as good as ours. We won’t really know.’
When Flesch stopped talking, someone jokingly shouted from the back of the room, “Friday at 5!”
“Friday at five o’clock,” Flesch repeated. “Hualalai is our first event that he’ll be eligible for next year in Kona. But because of his health and his back, we’re hoping he shows up. We’ll know, I think, Friday at 5 the week before.”
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