American golf legend Tiger Woods' last association with the sport of golf came when he competed at The Open Championship earlier this year. Since then, Woods has been on a break from the sport, during which time he also had surgery on his back.
However, the American golfer will now return to host the Hero World Challenge at the Albany Golf Course. Ahead of this event, which will begin on December 5th, Woods was part of a press conference in which he confirmed that a deal between the Saudi-backed PIF and PGA Tour is in the works.
Tiger Woods said:
"This is an active negotiation, and things are happening daily, weekly and it's evolving. We all want to get past this and do what's best for the tour and trying to do that some eggs are going to be knocked over and it's going to be a little bit difficult some times. I think something will get done. In what form or shape I don't know yet."
In 2023, the PIF and PGA Tour agreed to a framework agreement but have since missed deadlines to finalize the deal. Since then, there have only been speculations and no confirmation apart from Woods' statement above, where he has confirmed that negotiations are going on between the two tours.
Tiger Woods won't be playing at the 2024 Hero World Challenge
As mentioned above, the Hero World Challenge is set to be played from December 5th-8th at the Albany Golf Course. While the event will feature some of the best golfers on the planet like Scottie Scheffler, Tiger Woods won't be a part of it.
In the aforementioned press conference, Woods said the 2024 Hero World Challenge has some of the best players on the planet, but that he is not sharp enough to compete against them. Woods said:
"Still not there. These are 20 of the best players in the world and I'm not sharp enough to compete against them. So when I'm ready to compete and play at this level, then I will... I am disappointed. I'm not physically ready yet to compete at this level. I still need to keep training to give myself the best chance into next year and the events ahead."
Tiger Woods' exclusion from the Hero World Challenge 2024 still leaves the tournament with high-profile players from seven different countries. Here is a look at the 20-man field for the event:
- Scottie Scheffler (1), USA
- Ludvig Åberg (5), Sweden
- Wyndham Clark (6), USA
- Patrick Cantlay (9) USA
- Sahith Theegala (12), USA
- Keegan Bradley (13), USA
- Russell Henley (15), USA
- Robert MacIntyre (16), Scotland
- Sam Burns (17), USA
- Brian Harman (19), USA
- Sungjae Im (20), Republic of Korea
- Tom Kim (23), Republic of Korea
- Aaron Rai (24), England
- Matthieu Pavon (26), France
- Akshay Bhatia (28), USA
- Cameron Young (29), USA
- Justin Thomas (30), USA
- Sepp Straka, Tournament Exemption, Austria
- Jason Day, Tournament Exemption, USA
- Nick Dunlap, Tournament Exemption, USA
It's worth noting that the 2024 Hero World Challenge is the last event on the PGA Tour calendar. However, this event does not count for FedEx Cup points.