Tiger Woods will be at the Masters, but not to play

Tiger Woods has confirmed he will not be playing in the Masters next week as he is not “tournament ready” following further back problems. Woods spent almost 16 months on the sidelines after undergoing major back surgery, and he made a long-awaited return to competitive action in the Bahamas last December. But he missed the halfway cut in his first PGA Tour outing of 2017 at the Farmers Insurance Open in January, and he completed only one round at the Omega Dubai Desert Classic a week later before withdrawing due to back spasms.

I did about everything I could to play, but my back rehabilitation didn’t allow me the time to get tournament ready.

Tiger Woods

Woods and his team insisted the setback was unrelated to the surgery - the third back operation of his career - but he then pulled out of the Genesis Open in California and missed the entire Florida Swing while having intensive treatment. The four-time winner offered his apologies to Augusta National chairman Billy Payne and expressed regret that he would not be able to play on the 20th anniversary of his record-breaking maiden Masters triumph as a 21-year-old.

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