“Would love to have Tiger back,” The Players Championship director weighs in on Tiger Woods’ potential return in upcoming tournament

15-time major champion Tiger Woods has not featured in The Players Championship since 2019 when he finished T30.

“Would love to have Tiger back,” The Players Championship director weighs in on Tiger Woods’ potential return in upcoming tournament

Tiger Woods (Image via Imago)

Golf great Tiger Woods is yet to make his 2025 season debut. With The Players Championship on the horizon, the tournament director of this event weighed in on the possibility of him making his return to the tour in this signature event.

The 15-time major champion was originally scheduled to tee off at the Genesis Invitational. However, after the passing of his mother, Kultida Woods, he pulled out of the event claiming that he was still processing her loss.

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Woods though did make an appearance at the Genesis Invitational during the final round. While serving as the host of the signature event, he would take to the field on Sunday and even joined the broadcasting booth. At that time, he claimed that he was open to playing in some bigger events.

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When it comes to bigger events on the PGA Tour, The Players Championship is one of them. While the veteran golfer has not directly stated that he would tee off at the TPC Sawgrass, the tournament director Lee Smith seems excited with the prospect of him returning at this event.

In an interview with talkSPORT, Smith spoke on Woods’ recent TGL performances and how they would ‘love’ to have him back on the playing field.

As a two-time Players Champion, we would love to have Tiger back in the field at TPC Sawgrass this year… As we’ve seen with TGL, just getting some glimpses into his greatness and shot-making ability for a brief moment here and there brings the internet to a halt, so to have that experience for a week at The Players would be an amazing moment for our game.

Lee Smith said

Woods has not featured in this event since 2019. He does have an exemption this year as the 5-year exemption from winning the Masters Tournament in 2019 was extended by another year due to COVID-19. He has time until 5 p.m. March 7 to commit to this event.

President Donald Trump claims Tiger Woods will win more major championships

Recently, Donald Trump made a bold claim regarding Tiger Woods. While addressing the White House last week, the US President expressed confidence in the 49-year-old golfer and claimed that he will win more major championships.

Donald Trump and Tiger Woods
Donald Trump and Tiger Woods (Image via Imago)

At the moment, Woods has 15 major championships with his most recent one coming at the 2019 Masters Tournament. He trails Jack Nicklaus by 3 who sits on top of the list of most majors with 18.

Since the triumph at the Augusta National in 2019, Woods has been dealt with several injuries including the horrific car crash in 2021. As a result of this, his performances has gone down a bit. Last year, he finished T60 at the Masters and missed the cut in the other three majors.

Despite that, Trump is confident that Woods will win a major again. The two of them recently teed off after their meeting at the White House regarding the PGA Tour-PIF merger deal.

He’s got a long way to go too. I was playing with him last week. Adam, I think he’s got some left, he’s got a couple of majors left, maybe more than that.

Donald Trump said

Woods’ next win on the PGA Tour will see him script another historic achievement along with his name. He is currently tied for the most PGA Tour wins (82) with Sam Snead. Another victory and he will stand on top of that list.