Tiger Woods celebrated his 50th birthday on Tuesday, a milestone which means he is now eligible to join the PGA Tour Champions alongside other golf veterans.
The 15-time major champion remains among the sport’s greatest attractions despite being plagued by injuries over the past decade and a half.
Woods has competed in just 11 PGA Tour events since a serious car crash in February 2021. He is currently recovering from his seventh back surgery and has yet to reveal whether will play on the Champions tour.
He would join dozens of other ageing giants – including Fred Couples, John Daly, Jim Furyk and Vijay Singh – who compete over 54 holes and can use carts at most events outside the majors.
Woods, who is now dating Vanessa Trump, has made a number of botched comebacks in recent years and last season marked the first time in his career that he didn’t compete in a single PGA Tour tournament.
The 50-year-old, whose son Charlie is a rising star of high school golf, ruptured his left Achilles tendon in March while training ahead of the Masters. Then, in October, Woods went back under the knife to replace a disk in his lower back.
Tiger Woods turned 50 on Tuesday, meaning he is now eligible to join the PGA Tour Champions
The 15-time major champion is pictured with his son Charlie, 16, at the PNC Championship
Woods has helped his son Charlie win two state championships in three seasons with The Benjamin School. The 16-year-old’s coach recently lifted the lid on both father and son during an interview with the Daily Mail.
But earlier this month, the 15-time major champion gave a concerning update on his own game.
Woods revealed that his recovery from back surgery is not going ‘as fast as I’d like it to be’.
‘I’d like to come back to just playing golf again,’ he said. ‘I haven’t played golf in a long time. It’s been a tough year. I’ve had a lot of things happen on and off the golf course that’s been tough. And so my passion [is] to just play, I haven’t done that in a long time.’
Woods, speaking at a press conference before the Hero World Challenge event he hosts in The Bahamas, added: ‘It’s been six weeks (since his surgery). It’s been slow and you can’t really do anything on a disc replacement. You’ve got to let it set.
‘Now we’ve got the ok to start cranking up a little bit in the gym, start strengthening and doing more of the rotational component that I haven’t been able to do.’
Woods joked at the time that he ‘would probably play 25 events on both [the PGA and Champions] tours’ after turning 50.
The golf star is now in a relationship with Vanessa Trump, the ex-wife of Donald Trump Jr
Woods has helped improve his son’s short game and is a big supporter of his school team
Woods’ last PGA Tour event came in July 2024, when he missed the cut at the Open Championship. He hasn’t completed four rounds at an official event since the 2024 Masters.
The new PGA Tour Champions season, meanwhile, kicks off in late January with the Mitsubishi Electric Championship in Hawaii.
Back in October, the Daily Mail spoke to a source close to the golfer, who said: ‘He’s not stupid. He knows things are winding down, and he’s coming to terms with it.’
The insider added: ‘He won’t retire but he’s slowing down. He wants to do at least one more major and to perform well in it. He wants to end the career with a bang, not a whimper. But right now, we’ll have to see.’
‘He’s not in denial, but he wants to push himself until there’s nothing more he can do. It depends on his recovery if he’s there yet or not.’
