The Players Championship is set to take place next week. While it is not officially a major tournament, many deem this event as the unofficial fifth major of golf. However, there will be one glaring omission from the event in legendary golfer Tiger Woods.
Woods notably competed at The Genesis Invitational back in February. He has stated before that he will pick and choose what tournaments he plays due to his lingering leg injury.
Friday marked the deadline for those participating in The Players Championship. The PGA Tour revealed the field for the upcoming tournament, with Woods being the most notable absence from the largely star-studded field.
Field for THE PLAYERS Championship (March 9-12)
The winners of the Arnold Palmer Invitational presented by Mastercard and Puerto Rico Open will qualify if not otherwise exempt. pic.twitter.com/WTdWIOwhva
— PGA TOUR Communications (@PGATOURComms) March 3, 2023
Many thought he may play to ramp up for the upcoming Master Tournaments in April. With this in mind, many around the golf world were extremely disappointed by Woods’ decision.
It’s obviously not ideal from a competitive standpoint. He desperately needs reps if he’s to get sharp enough to compete with Rahm, Rory etc. He played 19 events in ‘18 and 5 before he won the Masters in ‘19. But that’s simply not possible this time. https://t.co/wEoFrYrmzt
— Dan Rapaport (@Daniel_Rapaport) March 3, 2023
Hate that decision https://t.co/fr05PtdPY1
— DJ Van Court (@djvancourt) March 3, 2023
The field for @THEPLAYERSChamp next week has been released.
The 144-player field Includes 43 of the top 50 players in the OWGR.
Tiger Woods is not in the field, having not committed by the Friday 5 p.m. deadline.
See the full field below: pic.twitter.com/aqfCs3GeHo
— Golf Central (@GolfCentral) March 3, 2023
No Tiger next week at Players. No bueno.
— Adam Schupak (@AdamSchupak) March 3, 2023
This essentially an incredibly-low key announcement of the end of there being any hope that Tiger Woods ever becomes a REALLY serious golfer again.
With the PGA Tour in PR peril, he is passing on their flagship event, on a course he plays well, in his home state.
😢 https://t.co/B1lSWv6U92— John Ziegler (@Zigmanfreud) March 4, 2023
I have to admit, I did think Tiger Woods was going to play @THEPLAYERSChamp next week.
5pm came and went and there was no Big Cat announcement.
Now I’m DISAPPOINTED!
— Mark Immelman (@mark_immelman) March 4, 2023
It largely seems like this is a decision solely regarding how Woods’ body is holding up at the moment. Tiger has won the Players Championship twice in his career. Chances are if he thought his body was right, he would be playing the event.
Regardless, it looks like the next time the golf world will see him is at Augusta National, where Tiger Woods has won five times in his career.
While he is certainly not the same player he once was, he will undoubtedly have all eyes on him when he does decide to tee it up again.
[PGA Tour Communications on Twitter]
