Is Tiger Woods Going to Play the Masters? Golfer Shares Update
Tiger Woods has a lifetime exemption into the Masters as a result of his many victories there. He may not be in the field in 2026, though. He did not play in 2025 after making the cut to extend his record streak of doing so in 2024. He's suffered numerous injuries in the last two years, needing surgery at times.
The last time Woods played, excluding his TGL team appearances, was at the Open Championship in 2024. He missed the cut and has struggled to stay healthy for any amount of time in the last two years. He just gave an update on his status for the Masters next month.
Tiger Woods reveals Masters status ahead of annual Augusta trip
Tiger Woods still wants to play competitively. His health has other ideas more often than not. Lately, it's been a battle to get healthy, and he hasn't been able to stay healthy enough to compete on the PGA Tour since late 2024.
It remains unlikely that Woods, who is coming off a ruptured Achilles this time last year, will play the Masters. He ruptured it while trying to ramp up to play at Augusta, so to think he could do that again after the injury is almost foolish.
Woods gave an update, but he didn't quite say one way or the other if he was going to play. "I said I've been working on it," Woods said. "Sometimes I have good days, sometimes I have bad days. Disk replacement is not a lot of fun."
He continued, "So as I said, I've had a lot of procedures prior to that, so the body doesn't quite heal like it was when I was 24. Doesn't quite bounce back. So I have good days when I can pretty much do anything, and other days where it's hard to just to move around."
Woods hasn't played anything
Tiger Woods hasn't even been playing TGL. He has adopted a sort of managerial role for Jupiter Links, who have gone from missing the playoffs entirely last year to a matchup in the finals with LA. But Woods isn't going to compete. He's going to continue to let Max Homa, Tom Kim, and Akshay Bhatia run the show.
"Well, I think that I have been trying to play each and every one of these matches," he said. "I've been trying to come back. But it just hasn't worked out that way. ... But the guys here, this team, we have so much fun, I really don't want to screw up the lineup, I just want these guys to keep playing." This does not bode well for the Masters. The Masters takes place on April 9, so Woods has about three weeks to get his body ready after an Achilles rupture one year ago. He hasn't been training, so he'd have to ramp up quickly, which is not ideal since that's what caused the injury last year. Plus, Woods doesn't have to just get in golfing shape. Augusta can be a grueling grind for golfers. It's not easy to play for four days, assuming Woods would make the cut again. If he does, he'll be out there for 72 holes after not playing in a year and a half, and that's a tall task.
Tiger Woods also had surgery on his back in October, which is unrelated to his Achilles injury. So essentially, he's working back from two major health issues and hasn't played in a year and a half. The odds are not in his favor, and it probably isn't even wise to play.
If Woods is going to play again someday, he probably needs to take it easy and get as healthy as possible, and it's unlikely that he'll reach that level before April 9.
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