Woods nearing decision on whether to play in Masters

LOS ANGELES — Tiger Woods is on the clock. Woods kept everyone guessing — a favorite hobby of his — with one word and a smug grin last week at Riviera when he was asked if playing in the Masters was off the table. "No," he replied. The grin indicated there would be nothing to add. To borrow a phrase from Dan Hicks at NBC when Woods forced a playoff in the 2008 U.S. Open at Torrey Pines, "Expect anything different?" He wasn't about to rule out playing in the Masters with two months to go. And having not competed in more than a year, Woods just doesn't know yet. But big decisions are looming for Woods in the next month. The Masters gets all the attention because a red shirt on Sunday has become nearly as common as a green jacket at Augusta National. But there's also that small matter of the Ryder Cup. Woods is the top choice — the only choice at the moment — to be captain for the 2027 matches in Ireland, just like he was for the last Ryder Cup before he turned it down. Officials were forced to wait longer than ever before announcing Keegan Bradley as captain at Bethpage Black. Now the PGA of America is asking Woods to decide before the Masters whether he wants the job. Two people informed of the situation describe it more as a soft deadline than an ultimatum. They spoke on condition of anonymity because these matters are private. The Ryder Cup captaincy has become a time-consuming job, and Woods sounds as though he is busier than ever. His most important role is chairman of the Future Competition Committee as it works toward one of the biggest and most complicated overhauls of the PGA Tour schedule. Woods offered as much when he said, "I thought I spent a lot of hours practicing in my prime. It doesn't even compare to what we've done in the boardroom." This is what drives him at the moment. He would love to be at the Masters, where in 2024 he set the record by making his 24th consecutive cut. He is a player at heart. Woods looked good last week in his role as tournament host at the Genesis Invitational. More than one person noticed the purpose in his step — and how big he looked — just walking through the locker room. He was comfortable in his news conference and in the CBS booth with Jim Nantz and Trevor Immelman. Good enough to compete while walking 72 holes at Augusta? Woods kept them guessing, too. He said he is hitting full shots — "Not well every day, but I can hit them," he said — and the Achilles tendon he ruptured a year ago is no longer an issue, rather it's the recovery from a seventh back surgery in September to replace a disk in his lower back. Age doesn't help. He turned 50 at the end of last year and recovery takes longer. As for the Ryder Cup captaincy, it's all about time and priorities. Woods is driven by the idea that as much as he has done for the game already (think prize money), he can do even more as a chief architect that reshapes the model of golf at the highest level. So when the Ryder Cup came up, his first response was he hasn't decided. "I'm trying to figure out what we're trying to do with our tour," he said. "That's been driving me hours upon hours every day and trying to figure out if I can actually do our team — Team USA and our players and everyone that's going to be involved in the Ryder Cup — if I can do it justice." By the time the azaleas are bursting with blooms in early April, Woods could be wearing yet another hat as Ryder Cup captain. Or the PGA of America will move on to a Plan B that includes predictable options and few surprises. Meanwhile, the next two weeks might offer hints on how much progress Woods is making on the job taking up most of his bandwidth. PGA Tour Enterprises CEO Brian Rolapp is expected to give an update, pulling back the curtain as much as he can, on the progress of the new schedule. The committee is looking at the sequence of events — a splashy start and a finish that makes sense — with an eye on big markets. Woods said the final work might not be done in time for 2027, perhaps only portions of what to expect. That would seem to indicate a later start to the season (Aloha, Hawaii) and moving around some of the postseason events. The tour has been looking at moving some of the premier West Coast stops to August for better (warmer) weather and prime-time viewing. To move Riviera to August would make sense except golf in LA doesn't have a history of big attendance in August, and title sponsor Genesis already has a PGA Tour event in July (Scottish Open). Torrey Pines? It was worth noting the strong attendance this year by officials from Wisconsin-based Sentry, currently the title sponsor at Kapalua. Pebble Beach has a massive car show that dates to 1950 and is among the best in the world in the middle of August. That tournament is unlikely to move to summer. "There's been a lot of moving parts over the last couple years," Woods said. He was speaking about the tour. He could just as easily be talking about himself.