Woods Will Make Appearance In Farmers Insurance Open
Published on January 5 2017 6:23 am
Last Updated on January 5 2017 6:23 am
By ESPN
Tiger Woods will make his first appearance on the PGA Tour in 2017 at the Farmers Insurance Open later this month.
The tournament at Torrey Pines near San Diego that begins Jan. 26 will mark Woods' first official event in 17 months; he tied for 10th at the Wyndham Championship in August 2015. He finished 15th last month at the Hero World Challenge, an 18-player event in the Bahamas that benefits the Tiger Woods Foundation. However, the tournament is deemed unofficial by the PGA Tour.
The Omega Dubai Desert Classic, a European Tour event that Woods has won twice, confirmed Thursday that Woods would play the tournament, which begins Feb. 2.
"I've always enjoyed playing in Dubai and it's fantastic to see how the city has grown phenomenally from when I first started playing there," Woods said, according to a tournament press release.
Woods' agent, Mark Steinberg, had said the 41-year-old "wants to get in one overseas event.'' Woods last played in Dubai in 2014.
Officials for the Dubai tournament had been hopeful of a return for Woods, who would see the likes of defending champion Danny Willett, Rory McIlroy and Henrik Stenson in that event.
With Woods' commitment, he is planning to play in back-to-back weeks, 12 time zones apart. Woods took more than a year off following a third back surgery in October 2015.
Steinberg said that Woods has also committed to the Honda Classic, which is the 14-time major champion's de facto hometown event near his home in South Florida. The Honda follows the Genesis Open at Riviera, where Woods had previously committed, meaning he is scheduled to play four tournaments in five weeks.
Woods has won eight times at Torrey Pines, including the 2008 U.S. Open. His last victory there came in 2013. But in 2014, he missed the secondary cut after 54 holes, and two years ago, he withdrew due to lower-back problems during the first round.
Others scheduled to play the Farmers Insurance Open include defending champion Brandt Snedeker, Phil Mickelson, Rickie Fowler, Jason Day and Dustin Johnson.
