Woods not in field for PGA Tour’s return to the links next week

Tiger Woods will not compete next week when the PGA Tour swings back into action after a threemonth COVID -19 hiatus as he was not listed in the field released on Friday for the event in Fort Worth, Texas.

The 15-times major champion did not commit to the Charles Schwab Challenge at Colonial Country Club by the 5 p.m. ET deadline, and thus will not be part of a stacked field headlined by the top five golfers in the world.

Woods’ lone Colonial appearance was in 1997, but there was a sense he would return this year given the long layoff since the PGA Tour shut down in mid-march due to the novel coronavirus outbreak.

The 44-year-old Masters champion last competed on the PGA Tour in mid-february when he laboured through a final-round 77 at the Genesis Invitational where he finished last among players who made the cut.

Woods, one win shy of a record-breaking 83 PGA Tour wins, then skipped a number of tournaments with back issues but did play a May 24 charity match with Phil Mickelson and Super Bowl-winning quarterbacks Tom Brady and Peyton Manning.

Next month’s Memorial Tournament in Ohio will be the first on the PGA Tour’s revamped schedule

to allow spectators amid the COVID-19 pandemic, organizers announced on Friday.

The Memorial, which will follow five spectator-free events on the PGA Tour, also said it will issue more details soon for the July 1619 event at Muirfield Village Golf Club.

Ohio Governor Mike Dewine, while announcing the reopening of state casinos and amusements parks in two weeks, said safety plans for the Memorial Tournament had been received and approved.

“These sectors have come up with plans that reduce the number of people, provide for sanitation, and in some cases, provide for one-way traffic,” Dewine wrote on Twitter.

“They are elaborate plans that we believe are consistent with protecting the public.”