Tiger Woods has undoubtedly been one of the greatest forces to be reckoned with in the golf world. The 48 YO was rewarded by the PGA Tour Policy Board back in June. The 2019 Masters winner was granted a lifetime exemption into the PGA Tour Signature events starting from the 2025 season. This will allow him to be a part of all the signature tournaments for the rest of his career.

This new exemption was made in his honor and placed him in a category of his own, reflecting his exceptional contributions to golf and his unique status, having the highest number of wins on the Tour. But there seems to be trouble in paradise, ranking-wise. 

Tiger Woods had his sixth back surgery in the past ten years in September, and well, that has taken him back to the phase of recovery. He was assumed to return for the Hero World Challenge in December, but on November 25, he announced that he would not be making it to the field since he is yet to recover. You see, having played only one complete this year, (the rest 4 were cut short), Woods is currently ranked 1086th on the OWGR list. If he had played in Albany, he would have had the opportunity to climb up and improve his ranking. 

Despite being an unofficial PGA Tour event, the Hero World Challenge has a significant purse and gives out OWGR points, too. Last year, Scottie Scheffler, the winner got 30.09993, and the runner-up, Sepp Straka, earned 18.05995 points. Will Zalatoris, who finished last, got 2.10699 points. 

Tiger Woods spent 683 weeks as the number-one ranked golfer in the Official World Golf Rankings (OWGR). His reign began on June 15, 1997, and ended on May 17, 2014. Woods’s longest consecutive streak was from June 12, 2005, to October 30, 2010, when he held the top spot for 281 weeks. The 82x Tour winner fell to #1307 in November 2023. This was his career’s worst ranking, after #1294 which he reached in February’23.

However, due to the exemption given by Jay Monahan, the 82X PGA Tour winner will still be eligible to play in the 2025 season. But if not the Hero World Challenge, will he tee off straight next year now?

Tiger Woods is expected to be part of the PNC Championship 

Two weeks from the Hero World Challenge, a family affair, the PNC Championship is scheduled to take place at Ritz Carlton Golf Club on December 19. Charlie Woods remains excited about the family tradition. As a result, Tiger Woods tries not to miss it, and as it turns out, he will be doing the same this year too.

Just a few hours after his withdrawal announcement, TW Legion reported, “FWIW, Golf Digest reports that Tiger is ‘expected’ to play the PNC with son Charlie. The same article says he has committed but has yet to see official confirmation of that. Woods announced earlier this evening that he’s disappointed to not be able to play at Hero.” 

However, there has been no official announcement for the same so far, and the Woods duo is still not there on the final field list. Additionally, with such little time between the two events, and such a major surgery to recover from, it seems a little far-fetched for Woods to be playing anytime soon. However, only time will tell whether they will be able to make it to the field in Orlando or not. Stay tuned for new updates.