Last year, Tiger Woods was out of action for most of the year due to health issues. The 15x Major Champion made his comeback at the Hеro World Championship in December 2023. Even though he played well in the Bahamas, he finished solo in the 18th spot. Because of Woods’s absence from the professional greens, his OWGR took a massive hit.
After the Bahamas, Woods managed to vault 430 spots in the Official World Golf Ranking. Before the tournament, his OWGR ranking had fallen to a career-low 1,328th. After the Hero World Challenge, he jumped to the 898th spot. However, in recent times, he made a 15-spot leap, which is surprising considering the recent changes made by the OWGR governing board.
How did Tiger Woods defy recent OWGR changes?
The OWGR announced two major updates to its system effective from January 1, 2024, to better reflect the players’ abilities across the spectrum of men’s professional golf. One of the changes was that ranking points would no longer be awarded to players finishing in the bottom 15% of the events that don’t have a cut. This rule applies to the “signaturе еvеnts” on the PGA Tour in 2024, as well as the Hеro World Challenge, which had a 20-man field and no cut.
If the new rule had been in place from its announcement, Woods should not have received any points for his 18th-place finish as he was in the bottom 15% of the field and would have remained at the career-low rank. But he managed to jump to the 898th spot, and now his ranking stands at 883 in the OWGR table.
The OWGR stated that sеason еnding еvеnts on various Tours are excluded from the no-points policy. This includes the FedEx Cup Playoff events on the PGA Tour, the DP World Tour Championship on the European Tour, and the Nippon Senior JT Cup on the Japan Tour, among others. The 5x Master’s winner gained points by fault, even though he did not play.
The 15x major champion promised his fans that he would be playing one event every month in the 2024 season, and with it, his OWGR rankings are also expected to get better. However, the road to his comeback might or might now not be as easy as one would expect.
Challenges ahead for Tiger Woods?
While Woods may have been lucky this time, he will have to perform better in the future to get back his old ranking as the new system will be more demanding and competitive for the players. Fans are waiting for him to grace the greens this season, and it is hoped that he will be competing at the upcoming Genesis Invitational. At his press conference before the Hero World Challenge, he said, “We would have to start with maybe at Genesis and something in March, near the Players.”
With the latest glimpses of Woods being able to sit well on the floor on his knees to hit tremendous shots, it seems that he experiences no excruciating pain now. If all goes well he would not face any challenge, and he will be again teeing up on the greens and offering neck-to-neck competition to the young golfers. Golf lovers will be eagerly waiting to see him back in action and witness his charismatic skills on the course, as well as good OWGR points.
