Tiger Woods issued a stark health update Tuesday, raising serious questions about whether he’ll be able to play in next month’s Masters tournament despite making his first return to competition in over a year.
The 50-year-old legend returned at the TGL Finals in Florida on Tuesday, March 24, where his Jupiter Links GC team was routed 9-2 by Los Angeles Golf Club. Woods flashed moments of his old form—launching drives beyond 300 yards and hitting a 279-yard 3-wood to about 24 feet—but his post-match remarks highlighted the ongoing struggle with injuries and a body that isn’t cooperating.
“We got our **** kicked at the end,” Woods admitted after the match. “Three eagles in a row, we didn’t respond.”
The 15-time major champion has faced a punishing run of health problems. He underwent L4-L5 disc replacement surgery in October—his seventh back operation—and earlier had surgery to repair a ruptured left Achilles tendon in March 2025. Woods has not played on the PGA Tour since missing the cut at The Open Championship in July 2024—more than 600 days ago.
Woods was a late addition to the Jupiter Links lineup for Tuesday’s TGL Finals, joining Max Homa and Tom Kim in place of Kevin Kisner. Jupiter Links surged to a 2-0 lead early, aided by a beautiful approach from Woods on the second that set up an early birdie. After that promising start, the match fell apart.
On the signature “Stinger” hole, Woods hit a trademark low-drive—318 yards down the fairway—that briefly convinced fans the old Tiger might be back. But on the par-3 seventh he missed a crucial three-foot putt and slammed his putter to the turf in frustration. Los Angeles then seized momentum, producing three straight eagles to close out the match before Woods could play his scheduled singles match versus Tommy Fleetwood.
Justin Rose delivered the decisive blow on the par-five 10th, hitting a 5-wood to about five feet. Jupiter Links conceded the eagle and the match immediately. Rose, who lost a playoff to Rory McIlroy at the 2025 Masters, helped Los Angeles Golf Club—also featuring Tommy Fleetwood and Sahith Theegala—secure the title with a match to spare in the best-of-three final.
Despite the one-sided result, Woods showed his swing can still produce high-caliber shots. His first full swing of the match was a 279-yard 3-wood that landed just off the green. “Welcome back, young man,” Homa told him after the shot. The TGL format, which has players hitting only certain shots instead of playing full rounds, made it harder for Woods to find continuity, but his raw power was evident.
The five-time Masters champion has been in a non-playing role with Jupiter Links during the 2026 TGL season while recovering from back surgery. His prior competitive outing was in early March 2025, also in the indoor team league he co-founded with McIlroy. Over the past five years he has completed just four 72-hole tournaments and played only 11 official events since his near-fatal car crash in February 2021.
The Masters starts April 9 at Augusta National, leaving Woods only two weeks to decide if his body can withstand one of golf’s toughest challenges. He said he will attend regardless and will take part in the Champions Dinner, where McIlroy will host after winning the green jacket in a playoff over Rose in 2025—the year Woods missed because of his Achilles injury. Woods is also expected to be involved with The Loop at The Patch, the nine-hole short course his TGR Design firm built at Augusta’s municipal course, which opens to the public April 15.
Woods’ recent Masters record is sobering. At the 2024 Masters he shot a career-worst major round of 82 and finished last among the 60 players who made the weekend with a 16-over 304—his highest 72-hole total as a pro. He withdrew before the final round in 2023 due to injury. His lone highlight since the crash came in 2022, when he finished 47th in a remarkable comeback that earned him standing ovations just for completing all four rounds.
As a past champion he has no deadline to commit and can wait until the last moment to decide, though he was noncommittal when asked Tuesday. “I’ve been trying, this body doesn’t recover like it did when I was 24, 25,” Woods told reporters. “I keep trying—I want to play.”
Woods is chasing history at Augusta—his five Masters wins leave him one shy of Jack Nicklaus’s record of six. But at 50, with seven back surgeries and numerous other procedures, he faces a stark reminder of the limits his body may impose on the rest of his career.
Jupiter Links had beaten McIlroy’s Boston Common Golf in the TGL semifinal on March 17, setting expectations for a triumphant finals run. Instead, Los Angeles dominated over both matches, leaving Woods to wonder whether his days competing at the sport’s highest level are over—or if one more Augusta miracle could still happen.