Tiger Woods’ return to the PGA Tour has been delayed yet again. Woods withdrew from the Safeway Open in Napa, Calif., on Monday.
Woods released a statement on his website on the decision, saying he feels his game is “vulnerable and not where it needs to be.”
“He just didn’t feel like his game is where he wanted it to be to be competitive,” said Woods’ friend and former Stanford teammate Notah Begay III, according to Golf Channel. “He’s going to defer for a couple more months.”
Begay noted that it’s not a physical issue; Woods, he said, is playing at Pebble Beach on Monday in a charity tournament.
Woods hasn’t competed on the PGA Tour since finishing tied for 10th place in the Wyndham Championship in August 2015, in a last-ditch effort to qualify for the FedEx Cup playoffs.
Last month, Woods announced his intention to play in the Safeway Open in October, followed by the Turkish Airlines Open on the European Tour in November and his own Hero World Challenge in the Bahamas in December. However, Woods’ announcement was made in tepid language, suggesting he could still back out of any or all of the intended appearances.
“My rehabilitation is to the point where I’m comfortable making plans, but I still have work to do,” Woods said on his website in a Sept. 7 post announcing his intended comeback. “Whether I can play depends on my continued progress and recovery. My hope is to have my game ready to go.”
Now we know Woods will not compete this week or in Turkey in November, meaning the earliest we will see Woods compete again is at the Hero World Challenge in December.
