The Masters: Tiger Woods to attend Champions Dinner, unsure if he’ll play at Augusta National | Golf News

Woods – a five-time winner of The Masters – will attend the Champions Dinner on the Tuesday of tournament week at Augusta National, hosted by Hideki Matsuyama; 15-time major champion unable to set a date on a return to action

Tiger Woods is unsure on when he can return to competitive golf

Tiger Woods has confirmed he will be at The Masters his April to attend the traditional Champions Dinner, although offered no clues on whether he’ll play in the opening men’s major of the year.

The 15-time major champion has already ruled out a full-time return to PGA Tour, having suffered career-threatening leg and ankle injuries in a car accident last February, with Woods saying ahead of the Genesis Invitational that he has a ‘long way to go’ in his rehabilitation.

Woods competed at the PNC Championship alongside his son, Charlie, last December for the second successive year but hasn’t featured on the PGA Tour since appearing at Augusta National in November 2020.

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Sky Sports Golf’s Simon Holmes looks back at an impressive return to action for Tiger Woods at the PNC Championship and discusses whether a PGA Tour comeback is a possibility for the 15-time major champion in the future

Woods spent time in the commentary box during his role as tournament host at the Genesis Invitational, where he reiterated he is still unsure when he will return to PGA Tour action.

“You’ll see me on the PGA Tour, I just don’t know when,” Woods told Jim Nantz when asked if it was fair to say he would play on the Tour in 2022. “Trust me, I’d love to tell you that I will be playing next week, but I don’t know when.

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Tiger Woods says he holds ‘hope’ of a return to competitive action, however admits he still has a long way to go on his road to recovery

“It’s frustrating in that sense, because I’ve been down this road before with my back when I didn’t know when I was going to come back. It’s hard not to have goals out there – you know, ‘I want to play this event so I can set myself up for that mentally and physically and emotionally.’ I don’t have any of those dates in my head.”

Woods said earlier in the week that he was not recovering as quickly as he would like, although he refused to fully shut the door when Nantz asked if there was a chance of him teeing it up at The Masters this April.

Tiger Woods is an 82-time winner on the PGA Tour

“I don’t know,” Woods added. “I’ll be there Tuesday and it will be a great dinner – I don’t know what kind of sushi we are going to have!”

Woods said he could handle playing in the popular and laid-back Par 3 Contest, held on the eve of the Masters, Nantz quickly jumped in to ask if that meant the 15-times major champion would play in the exhibition event.

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Highlights from the final round of the 2019 Masters, where Tiger Woods secured the Green Jacket for a fifth time

“I can play that kind of stuff,” Woods said when asked about competing in the pre-tournament event. When pressed by Nantz on whether that was confirmation he would play, Woods added: “Hey Jimmy, slow down for a moment.”

Woods, whose comments largely echoed what he told reporters on Wednesday at Riviera Country Club, was also asked about his upcoming induction into the World Golf Hall of Fame and his reply showed how much belief he has in himself.

“In most sports you go into the Hall five years after you retire from your sport. For us, we are able to actually still continue to play in your sport,” Woods said. “I still feel like I can still be out here with these guys trying to kick their butts.”

Watch The Masters live from April 7-10 on Sky Sports’ dedicated Masters channel.