Tiger Woods could join the Champions Tour(Image: Photo by Stuart Franklin/R&A/R&A via Getty Images)
Tiger Woods will be eligible to play on the PGA Tour Champions when he turns 50 at the end of this year, but it remains to be seen whether he will move into senior golf
Tiger Woods has been told the PGA Tour Champions are preparing for his arrival, with the 15-time major champion set to become eligible for senior golf at the end of the year.
Woods has endured a torrid few years, in a run that has seen him plagued with a whole host of injury problems. Since suffering a leg injury in a career-threatening car accident in Florida in February 2021, Woods has been forced to play a part-time schedule.
Since his return at the Masters a year later, he has played just 11 events, completing all 72 holes on just four occasions, having often competed in discomfort.
His latest setback came in March, after the 82-time PGA Tour winner confirmed he had suffered an Achilles injury in preparation for his return. It ensured he missed last month’s Masters, and appears to have ruled him out for the whole of the 2025 season.
The New Year however will bring new opportunities, with Woods turning 50 in December. This will make him eligible to compete on the Champions Tour, which operates 54-hole events on smaller golf courses, with the added aid of a golf cart available for use during competition.
Woods is yet to confirm whether he will make the jump to the senior circuit, but if he does, those at the tour are ready. “I don’t know what Tiger is going to do when he turns 50, and I don’t think Tiger knows what he is going to do,” Champions Tour President Miller Bradley told the Golf Channel.
“But here is what I do. Our team has met many times to prepare for when he does come out and play. Our players have had conversations with him.
“We know that Tiger is a competitor, he likes to play golf, and our hope is that he comes out and plays and we know that when he does, he is going to have a great time hanging out with some old friends.” Woods has kept his cards close to his chest when it comes to discussing his future.
A move to the senior circuit, however, would help the 15-time major champion prolong his career. One man who knows the Champions Tour better than most is its most successful champion in Bernhard Langer, who played his final Masters at the age of 67 last month.
Encouraging Woods to make the move earlier this year, Langer said: “When he comes out… he always moves the needle. He’s a very exciting personality to watch, and it would be fantastic for Tiger and for our tour to be competing out there, and I think all the players would welcome him, and it would be an interesting competition because the guys… are very good,” Langer said.
“It’s the only major senior tour in the world, so you get the best players from all over the world to compete in this, and we only have 78 Tour cards basically, so it’s a very, very tough tour to get on, and only the best make it.”
