Tiger Woods Explains His PGA Tour Absence, Praises Black Lives Matter Movement
After five months away, Tiger Woods is set to make his highly-anticipated return to the PGA Tour this week at the Memorial at Muirfield Village, a tournament heās won a record five times.
Ahead of his return, the 15-time major champion revealed whatās kept him away from returning to competitive golf since the season restarted last month while also speaking on the Black Lives Matter movement.
Tiger Woods hasnāt played a PGA Tour event since February
The last time Tiger Woods teed it up in a PGA Tour event was back in February at the Genesis Invitational at Riviera Country Club, a course thatās long given him a tough time. That particular week proved to be the worst showing heās had there as Woods placed dead last of the players who made the cut for just the second time in his career, the first coming at the Memorial in 2015, a week that included the worst round of his professional life.
Following the Genesis, citing lingering back issues, Tiger Woods opted out of many tournaments in which he usually plays, including the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill, where heās won eight times. He also skipped out on The Players Championship, which was canceled after just one round due to COVID-19 concerns. That was the last round played on the PGA Tour for three months.
There have been five tournaments since the tour restarted its season last month and Tiger hasnāt played in any of them. While none of them would normally be on his schedule, some thought he might play in at least one to get some competitive reps in but he chose not to do so and has finally revealed why.
Tiger Woods commends what the PGA Tour has done since the season restarted
As Tiger Woods looked fantastic during āThe Matchā in May in which he and Peyton Manning defeated Phil Mickelson and Tom Brady, it seemed that any lingering injuries wouldnāt be a factor when the PGA Tour season restarted last month. But when each week passed and he didnāt enter a tournament, there was that concern from golf fans.
But Tiger put those issues to bed ahead of the Memorial as he said he chose to stay away as he wanted to see how things went for a while before making a decision on when to return. He commended the PGA Tour on the measures theyāve put in place to keep golfers safe during this pandemic but also said that thereās still a risk for anyone to come out and play, with or without spectators, of which there wonāt be any until at least September. (h/t CNN)
āIām used to having so many people around me or even touch me, going from green to tee. Thatās something that I looked at and said, well, Iām really not quite comfortable with that, that whole idea. Letās see how it plays out first and letās see how the Tour has played out, how theyāve started, and I feel that Iām comfortable enough to come back out here and play again, and Iām excited to do it.
āThe Tour has done a fantastic job to protect us and to ensure weāre all safe. But it is now a risk that youāre taking when youāre outside your property and around individuals that you donāt know where theyāve been and what theyāve been doing.
āBut the screening and testing weāve done, the protection weāve tried to implement on the Tour have shown that weāve had to make adjustments, but itās a risk Iām willing to take.ā
Tiger Woods
A win at the Memorial would be Tigerās 83rd PGA Tour victory, which would give him the all-time record on his own. Woods is currently tied with Sam Snead atop the all-time wins list.
He praised the Black Lives Matter movement
This is obviously Tiger Woodsā first tournament since the death of George Floyd and as one of the only black players on the PGA Tour, he was asked his thoughts on the matter and the Black Lives Matter movement as a whole. Soon after Floydās death, Tiger released a statement (seen above) saying that while he respects law enforcement, there was a line crossed in that particular situation and hoped that people would educate themselves as opposed to āburning the very neighborhoods that we live in.ā
In his presser ahead of the Memorial, Woods called the Black Lives Matter movement āfantasticā and hopes that it helps society move forward in the long-lasting search for equality while also again emphasizing peaceful measures.
āI think change is fantastic. As long as we make changes without hurting the innocent ā and unfortunately that has happened, hopefully it doesnāt happen in the future ā but a movement and change is fantastic.
āThatās how society develops. Thatās how we grow. Thatās how we move forward. Thatās how we have fairness. Unfortunately, weāve lost innocent lives along the way, and hopefully we donāt lose any more in the future as we move to a much better place socially.ā
Tiger Woods
A lot of eyes will be on Tiger Woods this week for a lot of different reasons. He begins his week at the Memorial on Thursday afternoon at 1:17 p.m. Eastern in a huge grouping alongside world No. 1 Rory McIlroy and four-time major champion Brooks Koepka.