Is Tiger Woods playing in the 2025 WM Phoenix Open? Availability and schedule explored

Tiger Woods will not be playing at the 2025 WM Phoenix Open. The 90th edition of the tournament is scheduled this week at TPC Scottsdale in Scottsdale, Arizona from Thursday, February 6 to Sunday, February 9, 2024.

132 players are listed for the 2025 WM Phoenix Open including 15 of the top 30 players such as Scottie Scheffler, Hideki Matsuyama, Sepp Straka, Wyndham Clark, Justin Thomas, and Sahith Theegala.

Tiger Woods last competed in the 2024 Open Championship where he missed the cut. Since then, he has gone through a back surgery. However, the 49-year-old hasn't given any specific date or tournament for his return to the competition.

For Woods, eligibility isn't an issue as he has lifetime membership on the PGA Tour, having won 82 events, far surpassing the 20-win requirement. In December 2024, Woods had shown optimism about competing in 2025, saying (via Reuters):

"This year was kind of - I had to toss it away and I wasn't as sharp as I needed to be and I didn't play as much as I needed to going into the major championships and I didn't play well at them," Woods said.

"Hopefully next year will be better, I'll be physically stronger and better. I know the procedure helped and hopefully that I can then build upon that," he added.

Besides Woods, big names like Rory McIlroy, Xander Schauffele, and Ludvig Aberg are also not in the field for the 2025 WM Phoenix Open.

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Tiger Woods recalls his iconic ace on 16th at the 1997 WM Phoenix Open

In the 1997 WM Phoenix Open, Woods was just 21 years old and starting to emerge as golf's next superstar. His ace on the 152-yard 16th hole at the tournament solidified his status and contributed to the growth of Woods' legend.

He made a precise connection with his 9-iron and the ball holed out with two bounces. The ace is considered to be a turning point in Woods' career as he went on to win his first Masters in 1997 after the ace.

Recalling his ace at the 1997 WM Phoenix Open, Woods said in 2015 (via PGA Tour on Youtube in January 2015):

"The hole-in-one in '97—I think I broke Fluff's hand. I missed… either… what did I miss? I missed Omar, or was it Uresti? Oh, Omar missed his, and then, old school, back in the day, raised the roof. You know, that was the thing in the day."

Mike "Fluff" Cowan was Woods' caddie at the time. He further said:

"To see the turnaround and all this beer flying, it was crazy. The more eerie part was, is when we were playing 17 and 18. Everybody didn't really care; they were walking in because they had seen what they wanted to see, and 16 was empty."

He further shared that most of the fans left after his ace on the 16th hole and mentioned that the 16th hole was left in a mess with empty beer cups since fans had thrown them in celebration and then walked away. Woods tied for 18th at the tournament and took home $20,250.