Tiger Woods isn’t playing the Hero, but here’s when and where he might tee it up next

The question in recent years has become when Tiger Woods will play again.

Well, the question is again surfacing after his latest back surgery. He had microdecompression surgery on his lower back Sept. 13 to relieve nerve impingement and back pain and hasn’t played competitively since the Open Championship at Royal Troon in July, where he missed the cut.

The initial field list had three open spots on it for this week’s Hero World Challenge, Woods’ event in the Bahamas. However, last week, Big Cat confirmed he wouldn’t be in the field.

In past years, the Hero has been a test site for Woods following surgeries to determine where his body is at and get some competitive reps. Not the case this year.

That begs the question: when will Tiger tee it up again? He said in 2024 he wanted to play once a month, and he ended up making five starts: the Genesis Invitational and four majors.

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Here’s a prediction of when we’ll see Woods play in the near future.