ATS Sports Blog

Tiger Woods will make his highly anticipated return to competitive golf at the Masters. The world’s No. 1-ranked player, who has never missed the year’s first major as a professional, announced in a statement Tuesday that Augusta National Golf Club will be the site of his comeback.

“The Masters is where I won my first major and I view this tournament with great respect. After a long and necessary time away from the game, I feel like I’m ready to start my season at Augusta,” Woods said in a statement.

The Masters is scheduled for April 8-11. Since World War II, only one player made his first official event of the year the Masters and gone on to win — Ben Hogan in 1951 and 1953.

Woods last played on Nov. 15, when he won the Australian Masters in Melbourne for his 82nd career victory. His world then unraveled less than two weeks later; he was involved in a one-car crash outside his Florida home that required a hospital visit and let to a series of revelations about his personal life that included a later admission of multiple affairs.

Woods announced an indefinite leave from golf on Dec. 11 and made a public statement on Feb. 19, but speculation about his return has intensified in recent weeks as he began practicing again at Isleworth, near his home.

By choosing the Masters, Woods will skip next week’s Arnold Palmer Invitational, which he has won the last two years and six times overall. He also skipping next week’s Tavistock Cup, an exhibition played at Isleworth.

Woods last played on the PGA Tour in the Tour Championship on Sept. 28, where he finished second. His layoff between the Australian Masters and U.S. Masters will be 144 days — the second-longest of his career. He missed 256 days recovering from knee surgery in 2009.

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