The Arnold Palmer, Memorial (Jack Nicklaus) and his own National will undoubtedly give him a sponsor exemption and drop him at the first tee. He will need to perform now - basically, get inside the top 50 in the world or the top 64 in the case of the Match Play event.Īs for the invitationals? No sweat. The WGCs do not have sponsor exemptions nor any stipulations for past performance, not even for someone who has won 18 of them, such as Woods. Where getting starts will be an issue is at the World Golf Championship events and the invitationals, including his own National tournament that has been played in Washington, D.C. In other words, Woods would have no trouble getting into any regular PGA Tour event he wants to play. There are numerous exemption categories on the PGA Tour, and the Lifetime Member status is 18th on the list - before the top 125 from the prior year's FedEx points list. Davis Love III and Vijay Singh are using that exemption in 2018. Once that expires, his Lifetime Member exemption would kick in, which gives exempt status to a player who has at least 20 PGA Tour victories. The PGA TourĪlthough Woods has not finished among the top 125 in the FedEx Cup standings or money earnings since 2013 - the basic barometer for exempt status - he should have few worries about playing a full schedule, if he chooses.įor 2018, Woods is exempt based on his 2013 Players Championship victory, which comes with a five-year exemption. USGA executive director Mike Davis would not go so far as to guarantee it, but the safe bet is that if Woods is playing and competing at a reasonable level, he will get the exemptions if he wants them. Also, his place in the game suggests the USGA will reward him, just as it did Jack Nicklaus (eight special exemptions) and Arnold Palmer (six). Why? To start, Woods is a nine-time USGA champion (three U.S. Woods is likely to receive a special exemption from the United States Golf Association in 2019 at Pebble Beach (where he won in 2000) and conceivably as many as he wants beyond that. Barring qualifying in some other way (world rankings, FedEx Cup), Woods would, in theory, need to go through sectional qualifying.īut that almost assuredly won't happen. Open, where Woods is exempt through only the 2018 tournament at Shinnecock Hills, based on the 10-year exemption he received for winning at Torrey Pines in 2008. As a past champion, Woods is eligible to play the Masters and PGA Championship for life. So with all that time away, how is Woods eligible to play when he resumes official tournaments? The major championshipsįor the most part, this is not an issue. He missed the cut in the past three majors he has played and has just a single top-10. During that span, he has missed seven cuts and withdrawn from three tournaments. Stalled on 79 PGA Tour titles since 2013, Woods, 41, has made just 19 worldwide starts since the first of his back surgeries on March 31, 2014. Since then, he underwent his fourth back surgery. While everyone else in the 18-player field will be ranked among the top 50 in the world, Woods - ranked 1,199th - will be making his first tournament start since withdrawing from the Dubai Desert Classic prior to the second round on Feb. Tiger Woods is set to return to competitive golf at the Hero World Challenge in the Bahamas, where, as the tournament host, he is eligible for a special exemption given to. Tiger exempt into many events, but he can't play anywhere he wants You have reached a degraded version of because you're using an unsupported version of Internet Explorer.įor a complete experience, please upgrade or use a supported browser
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