Golf - The 152nd Open Championship - Royal Troon Golf Club, Troon, Scotland, Britain - July 19, 2024 Tiger Woods of the U.S. acknowledges the crowd at the 18th green after finishing his second round REUTERS/Maja Smiejkowska/File Photo Purchase Licensing Rights
AUGUSTA, Georgia, April 11 (Reuters) – Tiger Woods will be eligible to play in the PGA Tour Champions when he turns 50 later this year and 18-times major winner Jack Nicklaus expects him to dominate the circuit when he returns from another lengthy injury lay-off.
Six years on from his last major win at Augusta in 2019, Woods is sidelined with a torn Achilles tendon and is expected to miss the rest of the PGA Tour season.
The 15-times major winner has played a limited schedule in recent years due to injuries and has not played on the PGA Tour since July last year. He will be eligible for the Tour Champions circuit when he turns 50 in December.
“Tiger will be 50 next year. I believe he’ll probably play the senior tour and he’ll probably dominate the senior tour,” Nicklaus said at the Masters on Thursday.
“Tiger is too much of a competitor to not play.”
The 85-year-old Nicklaus, who won a record six times at Augusta National, said prize money would not be the main factor in Woods joining the over-50s tour.
“He doesn’t need money. Tiger will play for competition. He loves competition, and he’s very good at it, obviously,” added Nicklaus, who was an honorary Masters starter on Thursday.
“Tiger has had his issues, and he’s overcome most all of them each time he’s had them. I fully expect him to do that again.”
