The Eye Test and Tiger Woods's Own Words Reveal Promise for 2024

The sample size is small, but Bob Harig writes that there's room for cautious optimism around Tiger Woods after two December appearances.

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ORLANDO, Fla. — The sample size is small, which makes any kind of bold pronouncements more than tenuous.

Tiger Woods has played in two golf tournaments since his April ankle surgery, one of them just 36 holes in a cart, the other a 72-hole event on a flat golf course in the Bahamas.

Still, there is reason for cautious optimism. The eye test is one clue. And so are Woods's own words.

The 15-time major champion who suffered several injuries to his lower right leg after a February 2021 car crash has shown signs that the ankle surgery he had after the Masters has gone a long way to abating some of his walking issues.

Two appearances this month allow for optimism for Tiger Woods's 2024, where he said he plays on playing about once a month :: Kevin Kolczynski/AP

Woods is likely to never play a walking round of golf without some discomfort, but he’s looked so much better in his appearance two weeks ago at the Hero World Challenge and again here at the PNC Championship, where during the Friday pro-am he discarded the golf cart and walked.

It’s given him the confidence to say he hopes to play once a month—likely six tournaments—in 2024, something he did not back off from over the weekend.

"Well, having a better understanding of my ankle being fused," he said. I don’t have to deal with the issues that I did with my ankle. But again, other parts of my body are starting to ache more just because that’s now fixed."

Woods played the PNC Championship with his son, Charlie, for the fourth straight year, and for the first time in that period, the event wasn’t an initial look at Woods after a lengthy break.

In 2020, the event was Woods's first since the COVID-19-delayed Masters, but it was more about Charlie, anyway, as it was the first time the two played together on a national stage. Two months later, Woods was involved in the car crash.

In 2021, Woods surprisingly returned to the event and it was the first time anyone saw him hitting shots on a golf course since the crash.

In 2022, Woods played for the first time since missing the cut at the British Open, having skipped the Hero World Challenge. He then returned at the Genesis Invitational, where he made the cut and finished 46th. Woods then made the cut at the Masters but withdrew during the delayed third round.

This year, he returned at the Hero, where he finished 18th out of 20 players but looked good doing so.

At the PNC, it was a matter of chipping away some rust while enjoying the camaraderie with his son, who likely has a big role in Woods's comeback attempts.

"I've always loved practicing," Woods said. “I just have a lot more fun doing it with him. We have so much fun at home practicing and playing games. It’s special bonding that happens that not a lot of parents have."

Woods's support of his son could work in reverse as it gives him a reason to keep working on his own game.

And that will be the big question between now and whenever he tees it up again, most likely the Genesis Invitational in February. Woods puts himself in a difficult position as it relates to his competitiveness. He’s attempting to play against those who are generally at least years young and playing and practicing on a week-to-week basis.

Woods, as he has said often, will be unable to play a full schedule. He turns 48 on Dec. 30 and that alone would have been enough to scale back. But the injuries to his leg, the back surgeries he endured, make getting ready for just one tournament a big task.

Among the questions to ponder is whether Woods's leg can get better, if walking or playing more can help or hurt.

"I think walking does allow it strengthen the smaller muscles," he said. "Same thing like you would do with beach work and little mundane things like that, So yes, it (helps)."

So now we are unlikely to see Woods again until his own tournament at Riviera Country Club. The course has always proven a mystery to him, the place he's played the most of any venue on the PGA Tour without a victory.

It can also be quite chilly in the Los Angeles mornings, another hurdle for a guy who is going to always prefer heat.

But the fact we’re even discussing it is a good thing as it relates to Woods at this point. If nothing else, these last two tournaments allowed for some positivity.