Tiger Woods to miss PGA Championship as he continues ankle surgery recovery

Tiger Woods in action during the second round of The Masters at Augusta National in April.

Erick W. Rasco/Sports Illustrated/Getty Images

CNN
 — 

Tiger Woods will not play in the PGA Championship next week, with the 47-year-old absent from the tournament’s field list released on Wednesday.

The four-time champion was not named among the 155 players set to tee off on May 18 at Oak Hill Country Club in Rochester, New York, for the second men’s major of the season.

Woods underwent “successful” ankle surgery in April after an early withdrawal from The Masters, however no timeline was specified for a return to competitive action.

The fifteen-time major winner’s competitive appearances have been few and far between since he suffered severe leg injuries in a car crash in 2021, but Woods has prioritized appearances at the four major championships.

Woods celebrates his fourth PGA Championship victory in 2007.

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He had missed only one of five potential major outings – the 2022 US Open – since his return from a 17-month absence from the sport.

His appearance at the 2022 PGA Championship in Tulsa marked his second major appearance since his comeback. Woods made the cut at Southern Hills, but – as at The Masters in April – subsequently withdrew after a painful third round. A nine-over 79, including five straight bogeys, saw him card a career-worst score at the event.

Only five-time winners Jack Nicklaus and Walter Hagen have more PGA Championship victories than Woods, who defended his title at Tulsa in 2007 to clinch his fourth win at the tournament.

Woods withdrew from the 2022 PGA Championship after struggling in the third round.

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Jordan Spieth will tee up at Oak Hill in his pursuit of a career grand slam, having withdrawn from this week’s AT&T Byron Nelson Classic in Texas due to a left wrist injury.

The Dallas-born golfer expressed his disappointment at missing out on his home tournament under doctor’s orders for “rest and limited movement,” he said in a statement released to Twitter on Monday.

Tiger Woods lines up a putt on the 16th hole during the weather delayed second round of the Masters golf tournament at Augusta National Golf Club on Saturday, April 8, 2023, in Augusta, Ga.

Mark Baker/AP

What next for Tiger Woods after painful Masters withdrawal?

Runner-up in 2015, the 29-year-old is a PGA Championship crown away from becoming only the sixth golfer to win all four majors in the modern era, after Gene Sarazen, Ben Hogan, Gary Player, Nicklaus, and Woods.

To do so this month, Spieth will have to overcome a star-studded field headlined by Jon Rahm, who claimed his first green jacket at The Masters in dominant fashion at Augusta in April.

The Spaniard tops the world rankings ahead of Scottie Scheffler and Rory McIlroy, with the latter looking to add a third PGA Championship to his four-major haul.