Tiger Woods’ next start? Not knowing is the hardest part

CLEARWATER, Fla. – As was Tiger Woods discussing the next phase of his career at a press conference in World Challenge of Heroes in the Bahamas on Tuesday, some of his fellow middle-aged pros were doing the same at a golf club in Florida some 350 miles away.

Woods reflected on his recovery from a mid-October disc replacement in his lower back (“not as fast as I’d like it to be”) and what his 2026 game schedule might look like (“I’m a long way from that part of it”), while his peers — the six members of the U.S. team competing in Skechers World Champions Cup here at Feather Sound Country Club — speculates on what the PGA Tour Champions events might look like if Woods, who turns 50 on Dec. 30, joins the fray next year, if only for a few starts.

“I think what we have to do is potentially challenge that.” Jim Furyk he said bitterly. “I don’t think he can hang around in these three-round tournaments. Maybe he’ll get angry and play a bunch. I don’t think he can handle Stewart Cink, to be honest with you.

To which Cink replied, “He’s handled me plenty of times before. It didn’t seem to be a problem.”

But then Steve Flesch, who is one of four player executives on the PGA Tour Champions board, offered a more nuanced view, noting that everyone from players to tournament directors to PGA Tour Champions president Miller Brady is trying to figure out Woods’ intentions.

“But, I mean, with this last surgery, and everybody up here knows, Tiger just doesn’t share much,” Flesch said. “Except for maybe a couple guys up here who might be good friends with him or talk to him now and then, he just doesn’t share his plans.”

Flesch reminded the room that Woods has always been that way, dating back to his regular playing days, when he was known for not running events until minutes before Friday’s 5 p.m. deadline. “I think he would run most of the time in 4:58,” Flesch said. “Other than the events you knew he was going to play like Memorial, Torrey Pineshis main points, very rarely would he ever perform very early.”

Herein lies a potential logistical headache if Woods decides at the 11th hour to start a high circuit

“It poses a huge challenge for our tournament leaders,” Flesch said. “That’s a big scale to change when all of a sudden he might decide to go to Des Moines, Iowa, which I don’t know if he would, or Madison for Steve’s event.”

Flesch was referring to the American Family Insurance Championship, which Steve Stricker hosts at TPC Wisconsin in June. These smaller-market events aren’t used to the kind of activity that drives Tiger Woods — yes, even an injured 50-year-old Tiger Woods.

“This is a huge construction change,” Flesch continued. “A lot of people would show up to see Tiger Woods because he hasn’t been in any of these markets. Hopefully he would play in some of them. Rumors say he’s probably focusing on the majors, but selfishly to help our tour, we’d like him to go to Madison and Des Moines and some of the smaller markets where there would be a lot of people who would never have made a big impact. To see him in person, your guess is as good as ours.

When Flesch stopped speaking, someone jokingly shouted from the back of the room, “Friday at 5!”

“Friday at 5,” repeated Flesch. “Hualalai is our first event that he’ll qualify for next year in Kona. But his health, his back, hopefully he’ll show up. We’ll know, I think, Friday at 5 the week before.”