Tiger Woods isn’t planning to walk away from professional golf despite having his sixth back surgery back in September. However, Woods recognizes that he still has a “long way to go” before competing at the highest level.
Woods is hosting his annual Hero World Challenge tournament in the Bahamas this week but won’t be one of the golfers competing at the event. According to Woods, he feels that he hasn’t recovered enough to compete against the best.
“I’m still not there. And these are 20 of the best players in the world, and I’m not sharp enough to compete against them at this level,” Woods told reporters. “When I’m ready to compete and play at this level, then I will.”
Woods added that he still feels the desire to compete and pursue his 16th major championship. However, he is taking a cautious approach to his recovery and wants to avoid any potential setbacks.
“I don’t want to have any setbacks. Just want to keep making progress and give myself the best chance going to next year as possible,” he added. “I feel like I’m getting stronger, I’m getting more pliable, but I got a long way to go to be able to compete against these guys.”
Woods’ most recent tournament appearance came at The Open in July, where he missed the cut.
