Tiger Woods announced Friday via Twitter that he will make his next start at The Players Championship.
Woods has won at TPC Sawgrass twice, and he wrote that he is “hoping for a repeat of 2013” when he won by two shots. Woods did not compete last year because of injury.
The announcement seems to signal that Woods will be returning to his traditional schedule after a rocky start to the season. He missed the cut at the Waste Management Phoenix Open and withdrew from the Farmers Insurance Open because of injury, before announcing a self-imposed break from competition on Feb. 11.
He returned earlier this month at the Masters, where he tied for 17th. After the final round, he remained non-committal about when he would make his next start.
“Not going to be for a while,” Woods said. “I have a little time off, and go back to the drawing board, work on it again, refine what I’m doing. I really like what I’m doing, I got my distance back, and everything is good.”
His commitment to The Players, May 7-10, comes on the heels of Jack Nicklaus indicating that Woods will tee it up at the Memorial, June 4-7. The latter event has traditionally served as Woods’ final start before the U.S. Open, which will be June 18-21 at Chambers Bay in University Place, Wash.
Nicklaus said that during a long talk with Woods at the Masters two weeks ago, Tiger revealed his plans to play the Memorial Tournament.
“He said, ‘See you in May. I’ll be at the Memorial,’ ” Nicklaus said Wednesday while talking to local reporters at a fundraising event at Ohio State.
Woods, who returned to action at the Masters following an eight-week break from competition.
Woods did not qualify for next week’s World Golf Championships-Cadillac Match Play.
In addition to the Memorial schedule, Nicklaus said the two spoke about a variety of topics.
“He’s been struggling,” Nicklaus said. “We talked a little bit about that, but we talked more about his kids and events that are going on and we talked a little bit about what he’s been doing working on his preparation. I’ve said many times, he’ll be fine.”
While Woods plans to be at Muirfield Village, current Official World Golf Ranking No. 1 Rory McIlroy won’t be. He is playing the BMW PGA Championship at Wentworth and hosting this year’s Irish Open at Royal County Down in the two weeks leading into the Memorial Tournament and has told Nicklaus that he won’t be able to play in this year’s event.
McIlroy has played at Muirfield Village each of the past five years.
