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Fifteen-time major champion Tiger Woods said he hasn't ruled out playing in the 2026 Masters Tournament while still recovering from disk replacement surgery.
Woods, 49, responded, "no," when asked if a Masters appearance was off the table, but wouldn't commit to a playing timetable while addressing reporters at a news conference at Riviera Country Club, where he's hosting the upcoming Genesis Invitational, on Tuesday (February 17).
“It’s just sore,” Woods said of his back surgery, his seventh in a 10-year span, via Sports Illustrated. “It takes time. Willy Z [referencing Will Zalatoris' disk replacement surgery in May 2025] went through it, and it took him a while to come back. I'm a little bit older than Willy Z. It’s probably going to take me a little bit longer.
“My body has been through a lot. It’s just one of those things where it’s each and every day, I keep trying, I keep progressing, I keep working on it, trying to get stronger, trying to get more endurance in this body and trying to get it at a level at which I can play at the highest level again.”
Woods, who has won the Masters Tournament five times, one shy of Jack Nicklaus' record, had previously announced that he underwent a "minimally-invasive Achilles tendon repair for a ruptured tendon" after experiencing "a sharp pain" in his left Achilles last March. The 49-year-old has dealt with several injuries in recent years, which included a near-death car accident that took place in February 2021.
Woods underwent multiple surgeries on the injuries suffered in the single-vehicle accident, which included open fractures to both his tibia and fibula bones. Woods, widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential golfers of all-time ranks second all-time behind only Nicklaus (18) in career majors and has 82 PGA Tour victories, tied with Sam Snead for the most all-time.