Tiger Woods walked 18 holes on Friday, which sounds routine but is anything but for him—especially in 2024.
During the pro-am that precedes that PNC Championship, Woods played golf in public for the first time since missing the cut at the British Open in Scotland this past July.
Since then, he underwent another back procedure, a micro-decompression that dealt with disc issues of the lower spine. Woods was unable to play two weeks ago at his annual fundraising tournament, the Hero World Challenge. And there were questions if he would be in Orlando for this weekend’s event.
But Woods, who turns 49 on Dec. 30, had made it a goal to play again with his son Charlie, 15, in this event for the fifth straight year. He’s not expecting much and wasn’t putting much into one day of golf on Friday either.
The 36-hole, two-player scramble for those who won a major championship and a member of their family begins Saturday morning.
“Yeah, my leg is what it is, it’s still here, it is what it is,” Woods said after walking all 18 holes despite having a golf cart available for use. “But this year I struggled a lot with my back, and it’s a lot better, but I still have a long way to go. ... The recovery has gotten to be the hardest part.”
Tiger is walking better than he has previously. He hasn’t said so but it seems his issues in 2024 were far more back related. https://t.co/wUGxQKtxck
— Bob Harig (@BobHarig) December 20, 2024
Woods’s injury struggles in recent years have been well-chronicled.
The lingering leg issues are the result of a serious car crash in February 2021 that led to multiple surgeries on his lower right leg, including an ankle surgery in the summer of ‘23.
Beginning again in ‘22, Woods has played just 14 worldwide events and made just five cuts. After making the cut earlier this year at the Masters for the 24th consecutive time, he missed the cut at the PGA Championship, U.S. Open and British Open.
Two weeks ago, he skipped the Hero World Challenge because he didn’t feel he was ready.
“Rusty. Very rusty,” Woods said. “I don’t have my feels. My trajectory is off. My shaping shots. This is a practice round and I’m not looking forward to being cold [Saturday morning]. Hopefully Charlie drives it well so I can pick up and move on.
“I’m not in a competitive mode. This is a scramble. I’m not competitively sharp. This is more of a bonding experience.”
Tiger looks pretty good for not having played much. Two weeks ago in the Bahamas he did not even hit short shots on the range pic.twitter.com/nzRhz3xGXy
— Bob Harig (@BobHarig) December 20, 2024
Woods’s Sept. 13 back surgery was his sixth and followed a list of procedures that began in that area 10 years ago. The big one was a spinal fusion in April 2017. He came back from that to win three more tournaments, including the ‘19 Masters.
But he had another back procedure in December 2020, just a few months before the car crash, and then the latest just over three months ago.
“Preparing for competitive play is different,” Woods said. “That takes months, weeks. But it starts with each and every day. You just do the little things correctly, and they add up. From the moment you get up, just do all the little things, the mundane, the things you know you have to do. It adds up, and it compounds. … You may not see it over a week or a day, but over months, it adds up.
“Unfortunately I’ve gone through this process a number of times. It’s frustrating. It’s hard. But I have an amazing team, amazing support. But I have to do the little things on a daily basis and away from everybody. It’s hard.”
The next two days are unlikely to tell us much about Woods’s playing plight in 2025.
It’s a good sign that he was walking without much trouble. He hit plenty of good shots. But as he said, the things he looks for to signal to himself that he’s ready to play competitively are not there. Friday was just one day and the first time that the world has seen him do anything on a golf course in five months.
Tiger and Charlie Woods are paired Saturday with Justin Leonard and his son Luke. The 20-team event also features the likes of Lee Trevino, John Daly, Annika Sörenstam, Nelly Korda, Nick Faldo and Nick Price.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Tiger Woods Walks All 18 Holes in Pro-Am Ahead of PNC Championship.
