Tiger Woods announced on Wednesday that he hopes to make his competitive return to golf next month, beginning with the PGA Tour’s Safeway Open in Napa, California, after spending more than a year on the sidelines.
The 14-time major winner also said, depending on “my continued progress and recovery,” that he intends to compete at the Turkish Airlines Open in November and the Tiger Woods Foundation-run Hero World Challenge in December.
Woods, the greatest player of his generation and arguably of all time, has not played competitive golf since the Wyndham Championship in late August last year and has been recovering from multiple back surgeries.
“My rehabilitation is to the point where I’m comfortable making plans, but I still have work to do,” Woods said in a statement posted on his Web site. “Whether I can play depends on my continued progress and recovery. My hope is to have my game ready to go.”
The Safeway Open, the season-opening event on the 2016-2017 PGA Tour, is to be played from Oct. 13 to Oct. 16 at Silverado Resort and Spa in Napa.
Woods missed all four majors in a calendar year for the first time this year and made just 11 tournament appearances last year.
Since the end of 2013, the former world No. 1 has competed in only 18 events on the PGA Tour, while being blighted by injuries and poor form, recording just one top-10 finish during that period along with six missed cuts and three withdrawals.
“It was difficult missing tournaments that are important to me, but this time I was smart about my recovery and didn’t rush it,” said Woods, who celebrates his 41st birthday in December. “It was great spending time with my children, Sam and Charlie, and also working on a lot of projects... but I missed competing.”
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