Tiger Woods isn’t the same man now as he was 25 years ago. But even at 50 years of age, having achieved so much already, and with a body that has endured seven back surgeries, he is still trying to find his way back to the field. His latest comments, coming just 16 days before the 2026 Masters, only proved that the fire still burns.

“As I said, I’ve been trying. Just this body doesn’t recover like it did when it was 24 or 25. It doesn’t mean I’m not trying. I’ve been trying for a while. I’ve had a couple of bad injuries here over the past years that I’ve had to fight through, and it’s taken some time,” Woods said.

In 2008, Woods delivered what many call the greatest performance in golf history by winning the U.S. Open at Torrey Pines on a broken leg. He played through 91 holes with a double-stress fracture in his left tibia and a torn ACL, refusing to show a single grimace of pain until the trophy was in his hands.

He then shocked the world by winning the 2019 Masters after a major spinal fusion. This was his fifth Masters title, 22 years after his first in 1997. Given his love for Augusta, it was the perfect stage for his 15th major win.

“I keep trying. I want to play. I love the tournament. I’ve loved being there since I was 19 years old. It’s meant a lot to my family and me over the years. I’m going to be there either way with The Loop that’s going up there, as well as the Champions Dinner.”

The Masters has always held a special place in Tiger Woods’s heart. In 1997, he broke the scoring record with an 18-under-par finish and won by a historic 12 strokes. For Woods, Augusta is a place that feels like home and brings him back to his roots. Maybe this is why he also wants to compete.

He initially started the speculation by saying that the Masters was “not off the table.” But everyone knows his return will be anything but easy.

Woods has not played competitive golf since the 2024 Open Championship at Royal Troon, where he missed the cut. He played TGL in 2025, but later, a ruptured Achilles tendon sidelined him. His October disk replacement surgery furthered the cause. Rehabbing at the age of 50, when you have a 24/7 working schedule as the Chairman of the Future Competition Committee (FCC) that redesigns the new competitive model for the PGA Tour, is anything but easy.

Given these stakes, his decision remains on a knife-edge, as he said, “On a decision on Friday before tournament week: ‘I don’t know, we’ll see how it goes. I’ll be practicing, playing at home this week, and keeping trying to make progress.”

Still, the Big Cat found a way to show his claws before his trips to Augusta.

Tiger Woods returned to the field before the Masters

Before this week, Woods had skipped every official PGA Tour stop he could have played under his 82-win lifetime exemption, including the Arnold Palmer Invitational, the Genesis Invitational, and even bypassed his first opportunities on the PGA Tour Champions, skipping senior events like the Cologuard Classic to protect his healing back.

Then he suddenly made his dramatic return in a win-or-go-home Match 2 of the Finals after his team, Jupiter Links GC, fell 1-0 in the series against Los Angeles Golf Club (LAGC).

“I’m going to be rusty. There’s no doubt about that. I haven’t played golf in a long time. So thank God I have teammates to pick me up,” Woods told ESPN’s Scott Van Pelt about his decision. “It’s one of those things where I want to contribute to the team. I’ve been a cheerleader all these matches, and I want to contribute.”

Even though he warned that he’d be “rusty” beforehand, he didn’t look that rusty. Take his 272-yard 3-wood off the turf that set up an early lead, for instance. His stinger off the tee on Hole 6, reaching a ball speed of 176 mph. Still, the struggle looked broad when Woods missed a few putts, including one that lipped out from just three feet.

That miss gave LAGC the momentum they needed. Tommy Fleetwood, Justin Rose, and Sahith Theegala responded with three straight eagles, steamrolling Jupiter Links in a 9-2 blowout to win the SoFi Cup. After the loss, Tiger Woods was candid about the loss.

“We got our ass kicked in the end,” Woods said. “It feels good to be back, but I would have liked to be back under better circumstances.”

And physically? Though he missed that critical putt in his first appearance in over 13 months, the avalanche has finally started.

“Feels fine physically. It was just interesting the shots because usually you have more of a rhythm when you’re actually playing a normal round of golf, hitting shots. Here it feels like I’m getting iced a bit at times. It’s just a different rhythm. It’s like when you play Ryder Cup or Presidents Cups and you play in foursomes. Some matches you just don’t hit a putt for like 10, 11 holes and all of a sudden you’ve got to make a three-footer. That’s kind of what it feels like here,” Woods added.