Australian world number one Jason Day, preparing for this week’s BMW Championship in IN, told reporters on Wednesday he was glad to hear about Woods’ planned comeback.
Advertisement
Woods, who has held the No. 1 ranking in the world longer than anyone else, has slipped to 711th due to inactivity after undergoing two back procedures in the fall of 2015.
He’ll use the Tiger Woods Invitational, Oct. 10-11 at Pebble Beach, as a tuneup.
But a new season soon will be upon us, and Wednesday’s announcement suggests we might finally see the 14-time major champion back on the course, even if questions still hang over his long-term future.
“I’m looking forward to seeing him play again, seeing what the state of his game is”, Day told the Associated Press.
“I’m looking forward to seeing him play again, seeing what the state of his game is”, Day added. Good to see him back, good to see him healthy.
I knew that he was close to coming back and we chatted a little bit. I’m also excited to return to Turkey and Albany (in the Bahamas). The PGA Tour announced previous year that Safeway is the new title sponsor of the Safeway Open, formerly known as the Frys.com Open. But at last weekend’s Deutsche Bank Championship, Mickelson coincidentally found himself talking about the height of Woods’ game.
Woods is now ranked No. 711 in the world.
Woods, the greatest player of his generation and arguably of all time, has not played competitive golf since the Wyndham Championship in late August 2015 and has been recovering from multiple back surgeries.
He has won 79 US PGA events, three shy of Sam Snead’s all-time record, and his major total is four shy of the all-time record 18 won by Jack Nicklaus.
Woods has certainly stirred the pot this fall. “I’ve missed that”, he said.
Woods, who has dealt with injuries to his back, left knee, elbow, neck and wrist and missed considerable playing time in the past, said it has been hard to miss tournaments but he was “smart about my recovery and didn’t rush it”. “I would love it”, he said.
“My rehabilitation is to the point where I’m comfortable making plans, but I still have work to do”. “I think it’s going to raise the field, the expectations”.
Advertisement
Yes, it would. Wouldn’t it be great to see the 28-year-old Day and 27-year-old McIlroy and 23-year-old Jordan Spieth take shots at maybe the best there ever was for the next decade?
