TIGER’S BACK AT MUIRFIELD
DUBLIN, Ohio—the Professional Golfers’ Association (PGA) Tour returned five weeks ago with some of its strongest fields. Now it gets its biggest star. Tiger Woods announced Thursday on Twitter he will play next week at the Memorial, a tournament he has won a record five times, as he goes after his record 83rd career victory on the PGA Tour.
“I’ve missed going out and competing with the guys and can’t wait to get back out there,” Woods said.
It will end a five-month break from competition for Woods. He last played on February 16 at the Genesis Invitational, where he shot 76-77 at chilly Riviera to finish alone in last place.
Woods said he felt stiffness in the cold weather. He chose not to go to Mexico City for a World Golf Championship, then skipped three straight tournaments in Florida before golf was halted because of the Covid-19 pandemic.
His only competition was an exhibition match on May 24 at his home course in Florida, with Peyton Manning as his partner against Phil Mickelson and Tom Brady.
The tour resumed June 11 at Colonial in Fort Worth, Texas, and most weeks brought some level of speculation that Woods was going to play. He had contemplated coming to Muirfield Village for the Workday Charity Open, a one-time event that replaces the canceled John Deere Classic, but ultimately waited until the second week at Memorial.
That will give him at least one start, and possibly two if he plays a World Golf Championship in Tennessee, before heading into the first major of a reconfigured year.
Woods had said in April he was ready to go for the Masters until it was postponed because of the coronavirus. The Masters is now scheduled for November 12 to 15, with Woods as the defending champion.
The PGA Championship is August 6 to 9 at Harding Park in San Francisco, where Woods won a World Golf Championship in 2005. The US Open at Winged Foot is scheduled for September 17 to 20.
Woods has played only three times this season on the PGA Tour, starting with his recordtying 82nd victory at the Zozo Championship in Japan. He also played at Torrey Pines and Riviera.
He has gone from No. 6 in the world when he won in Japan to No. 14.
Aside from the majors—woods is three away from matching the standard set by Jack Nicklaus—woods is missing additional incentive to play, with the Olympics and the Ryder Cup postponed until 2021.
Three players who have tested positive for the coronavirus but are no longer symptomatic, meanwhile, will play together at the Workday Charity Open, the PGA Tour announced Wednesday in the latest revision of its Covid-19 policies.
Nick Watney—the first tour player to test positive—will play alongside Dylan Frittelli and Denny Mccarthy during the first two rounds at Muirfield Village in Dublin, Ohio, the tour said.
All three players continue to test positive for the virus but have met the Centers for Disease Control criteria for returning to work, the tour said. Players in those circumstances will either be grouped together or play as singles. They will also have no access to indoor facilities at the tournament site.
Watney reported mild symptoms after he tested positive before the RBC Heritage in Hilton Head, South Carolina. He self-isolated for 10 days before driving back home to Austin, Texas.
Frittelli tested positive after missing the cut at the Travelers Championship in Cromwell, Connecticut. Mccarthy tested positive after the first round of the Travelers.
The tour said it made the change because players can continue to test positive even after the infectious virus is no longer present and they have met all other CDC criteria. Those include: no fever for at least three days, improvement in respiratory symptoms and a period of at least 10 days since symptoms first appeared.
Last week, the tour allowed players and caddies to return if a positive test is followed by two negative tests at least 24 hours apart and they show no symptoms. That change allowed Cameron Champ to play at the Rocket Mortgage Classic in Detroit, where he finished in a tie for 12th.