*Tiger Woods will not return to competitive golf this month as he had announced last week.
According to ESPN, the golfer is withdrawing from this week’s Safeway Open as well as the Turkish Airlines Open in November, Woods posted on his website.
“After a lot of soul searching and honest reflection, I know that I am not yet ready to play on the PGA Tour or compete in Turkey,” he wrote. “My health is good, and I feel strong, but my game is vulnerable and not where it needs to be. When I announced last week I was going to Safeway, I had every intention of playing, or I wouldn’t have committed.
“I spent a week with the U.S. Ryder Cup Team, an honor and experience that inspired me even more to play. I practiced the last several days in California, but after a lot of hours, I knew I wasn’t ready to compete against the best golfers in the world.
“I will continue to work hard, and plan to play at my foundation’s event, the Hero World Challenge, in Albany. I would like to apologize and send my regrets to Safeway, the Turkish Airlines Open, the fans in California and Turkey and those that had hoped to watch me compete on TV. This isn’t what I wanted to happen, but I will continue to strive to be able to play tournament golf. I’m close, and I won’t stop until I get there.”
Woods was set to play his first tournament in more than 14 months at the Safeway Open, the first PGA Tour event of the 2016-17 season.
Woods, 40, was taking part in a pro-am event at Pebble Beach that benefits the Tiger Woods Foundation. Woods was not playing in the event, but participating as a host and conducting clinics. He attended the Washington State-Stanford college football game on Saturday, about two hours from Silverado Resort.
Woods has fallen to 786th in the world since his last tournament, the Wyndham Championship in August 2015, where he tied for 10th before undergoing two back procedures.
On Sept. 7, Woods announced that he “hoped” to play the Safeway, as well as next month’s Turkish Airlines Open and December’s Hero World Challenge.
We Publish News 24/7. Don’t Miss A Story. Click HERE to SUBSCRIBE to Our Newsletter Now!
