Tiger Woods will return to the golf course on Saturday, but he doesn’t want anyone to expect much from him at the PNC Championship in Florida.
Woods and his son Charlie, 15, will compete together in the event this weekend, with the legendary golfer back on the course for the first time since his sixth back surgery in September.
But the 48-year-old insists he is just there to compete with his son and is not yet at a certain level to challenge, saying recovery is harder than ever.
“That was one of the reasons I had the surgery done earlier, so I could hopefully give myself the best opportunity to be with Charlie and be able to play,” Woods said.
‘I’m not competitive at the moment, but I just want to be able to relive the experience. This has always been one of the bigger highlights of the year for us as a family, and now we can experience that moment together again.
‘I’m not going to feel what I’m used to feeling. The recovery has become the hardest part. But over the rounds, weeks, months, it becomes more and more difficult.”
Tiger Woods returns to golf Saturday at the PNC Championship with his 15-year-old son Charlie
Woods, 48, is once again on the comeback trail after a sixth back surgery in September
The surgery took place on his back, but Woods said his right leg, which was mangled in a February 2021 car crash outside Los Angeles, remains the biggest physical obstacle.
Still, he opted to run the pro-am on Friday instead of riding a cart, which is allowed for players because the tournament is co-sanctioned by the PGA Tour Champions.
And his swing looked good too, not that Woods accepted compliments.
“Rusty, very rusty,” he said with a smile in an interview with The Golf Channel on Friday. ‘I don’t have my feeling and my trajectory is wrong. Anyway, this was a practice round.
‘I’m not at a competitive level. This is a struggle. I’m not competitively sharp.
‘I’m having fun. I love golf, I love the process of figuring it out. I’m certainly not nearly as good as I used to be, but I still enjoy hitting the ball from the center of the face.
“I enjoy the process of trying to get better. We are addicted to this game. It keeps bringing us back.”
Woods also revealed the support he gives his son on weekends like this, where the young teen gets a lot of attention thanks to his famous father.
Woods said recovery is harder than ever, but added he is ‘addicted’ to playing the game
“I always reminded him, ‘Just be yourself.’ Charlie is Charlie. Yes, he is my son. He will have my last name and it will be part of his core,” Woods said.
“But I just want him to just be himself and be his own person. That is what only we can do
“I always encourage him to make his own name, create his own path and live his own journey.
‘I think he’s doing a great job. In this day and age where everyone is basically media, with all the phones, being filmed all the time, people watching all the time, that’s just part of his generation, and that’s part of the world he has to maneuver through.”
After this weekend, Woods is focused on the January launch of his ‘TGL’ indoor golf competition, which he helped create with Rory McIlroy.