Rest over reps: Tiger Woods will skip next week’s Players Championship

The PGA Tour announced the field for next week’s Players Championship in Ponte Vedra Beach, Florida on Friday and one notable name was missing – Tiger Woods. 

The 15-time major winner didn’t enter the PGA Tour’s flagship event ahead of Friday’s  entry deadline, meaning he’ll sit out the tournament at the TPC at Sawgrass Stadium Course he won on in 2001 and 2013. 

Woods shot 1-under 283 and finished T-45 at the Genesis Invitational last week at the Riviera Country Club near Los Angeles. He made the cut but showed signs of fatigue during the weekend as he continues to recover from a car crash in 2021.

NEWSLETTER: Sign up to get sports news and features delivered daily

GOLFWEEK: All the latest news and features from around the links

The 47-year-old said his body will only allow him to participate in select tournaments.

‘Here’s the deal: Like I told you guys last year, I’m not going to play any more than probably the majors and maybe a couple more. That’s it, that’s all my body will allow me to do,’ Woods said at the Genesis Invitational. ‘My back the way it is, all the surgeries I had on my back, my leg the way it is, I just can’t. That’s just going to be my future.’

The 2023 Masters is a little more than a month away. Many assumed that Woods would participate in the Players Championship to get more reps in ahead of Augusta, but his latest move shows he’s opting for more rest ahead of the first major of the year. 

After missing 14-months of competition following the crash, Woods played three of the four majors last year. He returned to the Masters last April and made the cut. He also made the cut in the PGA Championship, only to withdraw after the third round at Southern Hills with a severe limp. He skipped the U.S. Open to make sure he was ready for St. Andrews, but missed the cut at the British Open.

‘My intent last year was to play in all four majors, I got three of the four,’ he said. ‘Hopefully this year I can get all four and maybe sprinkle in a few here and there. But that’s it for the rest of my career. I know that and I understand that. That’s just my reality.’