Tiger Woods took his first steps back onto the golf course in an effort to potentially return for the Masters — well, kind of.
Woods did not play on an actual course, but returned to competitive golf action when he played for his Jupiter Links team against Los Angeles Golf Club in the second match of TGL’s final at SoFi Center on Tuesday.
The simulator-based indoor golf league made the announcement late Monday. Woods played in front of a live crowd for the first time in more than a year while recovering from back surgery and a torn Achilles.
The 15-time major champion most recently competed at the 2024 Open Championship and had been sidelined since.
Who will Woods be playing with?
Woods, who has won the Masters five times in his illustrious career, has spent the season supporting teammates Max Homa, Tom Kim and Kevin Kisner.
Woods took the place of Kisner for Tuesday’s matchup, but could not help his team win. LA recorded three consecutive eagles on the way to a 9-2 victory and the TGL championship.
Woods missed a three-foot putt on the seventh hole.
Jupiter Links lost the first match of the final to the Los Angeles squad featuring Justin Rose, Tommy Fleetwood and Sahith Theegala.
Woods has yet to commit either way to playing at next month’s Masters, the biggest event on the golf calendar, emanating from Augusta National Golf Club in Georgia.
“I want to play. I love the tournament,” Woods said Tuesday, according to The Associated Press. “I’m going to be there either way with The Loop that’s going up there, as well as the Champions Dinner. … We’ll see how it goes. I’ll be practicing, playing at home this week and keep trying to make progress.”
What has Tiger said about playing?
Woods returning to play in the final is a surprise to many, but last week he had commented about the possibility.
“Well, I think that I have been trying to play each and every one of these matches. I’ve been trying to come back. But it just hasn’t worked out that way,” Woods said last week about possibly playing a TGL match, per Golf Digest.
“I’ve had a bad run of injuries last year. I think it’s been a year and a few days since I blew out my Achilles (last March). And so then I’ve had two back operations. So it’s been a little rough go.
“But the guys here, this team, we have so much fun, I really don’t want to screw up the lineup, I just want these guys to keep playing.”