Tiger Woods, whose return to competition last month was aborted by illness, will tee it up today, though it will be in relative anonymity.
Woods will make his debut in the exclusive Seminole Pro-Member at Seminole Golf Club in Juno Beach, Florida, near his home in Jupiter. The two-man better-ball event, which will not be televised, features some of the game’s top male and female touring pros paired with captains of industry and celebrities at the renowned century-old seaside course designed by Donald Ross.
Woods will team with PGA of America CEO Seth Waugh in a foursome that includes Justin Thomas and software executive Mike Walrath.
Because of the PGA Tour's weather-delayed Cognizant Classic that was finishing today in nearby Palm Beach Gardens, the Seminole Pro-Member was preparing to adjust its tee times. A club official told Global Golf Post on Sunday night that some pros likely would not be able to play and that others might be moved into later times.
In his most recent start, Woods lasted only 24 holes last month at the Genesis Invitational at Riviera Country Club in Pacific Palisades, California. He withdrew after hitting his tee shot on the seventh hole of the second round, citing an illness that he later disclosed was the flu.
Eleven months ago in his previous PGA Tour start, Woods withdrew during the third round of the Masters, citing an aggravated plantar fasciitis in his surgically repaired right foot.
Woods, 48, was not listed among the field that was released Friday for this week’s Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill in Orlando, where he has won eight times. His status for next week’s Players Championship and the Masters in five weeks remains uncertain.
For Seminole Pro-Member pairings, click HERE.
Mike Ehrmann, Getty Images
The ninth edition of “The Match,” a made-for-TV event that has evolved since its 2018 debut pitting archrivals Tiger Woods and Phil Mickelson, hit a new low in viewership last week.
An average of only 511,000 viewers across the TNT, truTV and HLN networks watched Max Homa, Rory McIlroy, Lexi Thompson and Rose Zhang in a 12-hole charity skins game played under the lights at The Park Golf Course in West Palm Beach, Florida, according to a report by Austin Karp of Sports Business Journal. The previous audience low had been 782,000 in June 2023 when teammates Patrick Mahomes and Travis Kelce of the NFL’s Kansas City Chiefs took on Steph Curry and Klay Thompson of the NBA’s Golden State Warriors.
The inaugural Match between Woods and Mickelson was a poorly executed pay-per-view event marred with technical difficulties. Two years ago, 1.45 million tuned in to see a matchup of NFL quarterbacks with Tom Brady and Aaron Rodgers vs. Mahomes and Josh Allen. Those numbers fell far short of the 5.8 million viewers on May 24, 2020 – during the COVID lockdown – who saw the second edition pitting Woods and Peyton Manning against Mickelson and Brady.
This year’s Match was the first to include female participants. McIlroy won a closest-to-the-pin tiebreaker to claim $1.6 million for charity. READ MORE
TAP-INS
Argentina’s Ángel Cabrera missed the cut by two strokes at the Korn Ferry Tour’s Argentina Open last week, but he showed signs of regaining the form that led to two major championships as he seeks his first Masters start since 2019. He shot 68-70 for a 2-under 138 at Olivos Golf Club in Buenos Aires. Cabrera, 54, the 2009 Masters champion, was paroled from an Argentine prison in August after having served two years on two convictions related to domestic violence against two former girlfriends. Augusta National chairman Fred Ridley has assured Cabrera a spot in the 88th Masters on April 11-14, provided that he can obtain a visa to travel to the U.S. One week earlier, Cabrera made his first start in a PGA Tour-sanctioned event since having been paroled when he tied for 27th at the Champions Tour’s Hassan II Golf Trophy.
European captain Suzann Pettersen named her four assistants for this year’s Solheim Cup. England’s Laura Davies and Mel Reid will join Sweden’s Anna Nordqvist and Pettersen’s Norwegian compatriot Caroline Martens on the staff for the September 13-15 matches against America’s top female professionals at Robert Trent Jones Golf Club in Gainesville, Virginia. Davies, Reid and Nordqvist have won on the LPGA and Ladies European tours and played in multiple Solheim Cups. Martens has won on neither tour nor played in a Solheim Cup, but she assisted Pettersen in the 2023 Solheim Cup, in which Europe retained the cup as defending champion with a 14-14 tie. READ MORE
Angela Stanford, a lifelong Texan and seven-time winner on the LPGA, was granted a sponsor exemption for the women’s tour’s first major tournament of the season, the Chevron Championship, in The Woodlands, Texas. Stanford, 46, will be making her 98th consecutive major-championship start at the April 18-21 event at The Club at Carlton Woods. Her lone major title came at the 2018 Evian Championship. She missed the cut in her only start this year. READ MORE
LIV Golf is embroiled in a “secret legal dispute” with the defunct Premier Golf League, a would-be predecessor to the Saudi-funded rival tour, that could exceed £10 million (about $12.66 million), according to a report by Tom Kershaw in London’s Times newspaper. READ MORE
Camilo Villegas has been voted by PGA Tour members to be chairman of the Player Advisory Council, the tour announced. Villegas, 42, a five-time tour winner from Colombia, will chair the PAC through the end of the year and replace Jordan Spieth as a player director on the PGA Tour Policy Board beginning January 1 through 2027. The PAC advises and consults with the board and commissioner Jay Monahan. READ MORE
The PGA Tour joined the Coalition for Responsible Sports Betting Advertising, a voluntary association formed by the NFL and Fox to encourage a responsible approach to sports betting advertising. READ MORE
Compiled by Steve Harmon