‘The fire still burns’, says Tiger Woods as he targets 2025 comeback
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Tiger Woods speaking to the media prior to the Hero World Challenge 2024 tournament in the Bahamas, on Dec 3.
PHOTO: AFP
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ALBANY – Tiger Woods still has the passion to compete and is working to get his body back in shape for 2025, he said on Dec 3 at the Hero World Challenge in Albany, the Bahamas, after another injury curtailed his 2024 season.
The 48-year-old has not played since July and underwent surgery for a nerve impingement on his lower back in September, an injury that he said took him by surprise and caused him tremendous pain.
He was expected to take one of three exemption spots for the tournament he will be hosting for the 25th time, an unofficial event that features 20 of the world’s top players, but said late in November that he would not compete.
“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,” said Woods, who missed the cut at the PGA Championship, US Open and British Open.
He withdrew from the Genesis Invitational in February after the first round due to illness, and in April finished 60th at the Masters, where he claimed his 15th Major title five years ago.
“Hopefully, next year will be better, I’ll be physically stronger and better,” he said. “I know the procedure helped and hopefully that I can then build upon that.
“I’m not tournament sharp yet now... I’m still not there. So when I’m ready to compete and play at this level, then I will. I don’t want to have any setbacks, just want to keep making progress.”
Woods has kept a limited competitive schedule for years due to several injuries and said that he was working to give himself the best chance possible to compete in 2025.
“The fire still burns to compete,” he said. “But as far as the recovery process of going out there and doing it again and again and again and doing it consistently at a high level, I can’t, for some reason the body just won’t recover like it used to. That’s part of age and part of an athlete’s journey.”
The American also weighed in on a handful of key issues in a wide-ranging press conference, including talks between the PGA Tour and the Saudi-backed LIV tour to unify the game that have stalled for months.
He expressed disappointment at the delay but said that “things are moving”.
“I think all of us who have been a part of this process would have thought it would have happened quicker than this,” said Woods, a vice-chairman of the PGA Tour Enterprises board. “We wish we would have had something more concrete and further along than we are right now. But things are very fluid, we’re still working through it, it’s happening daily.
“From a policy board standpoint or from an enterprise standpoint, things are moving and they’re constructive. But yes, definitely moving.” REUTERS, AFP
