Tiger Woods To Skip Honda Classic
The Honda Classic is just around the corner. Held next week at PGA National in Palm Beach Gardens, it boasts one of the strongest non-major fields on the PGA Tour calendar.
One player who will not be there though is hometown favorite and one of the largest draws in golf, Tiger Woods.
Woods, who withdrew midway through the first round at the Farmers Insurance Open, announced shortly after the WD that he was taking a leave from the game to fix the glaring issues in the his game that has seen him struggle as of late, including his chipping and putting. For years his chipping and putting were the strongest part of his game.
While he had not ruled out at the time playing in The Honda Classic, many golf insiders said they couldn't see Tiger ready to play tournament golf again in just two weeks time.
Yesterday, it was made official when Woods' agent Mark Steinberg contacted The Honda Classic to inform them that Tiger will not be competing.
In a statement, Honda Executive Director Ken Kennerly said, “I got a call this afternoon from Mark Steinberg on behalf of Tiger. He wanted to let us know that Tiger is not going to play in the Honda Classic. He has been working on his game this week and feels as though he is not tournament ready to play next week. We continue to wish Tiger a speedy recovery. Tiger has been great to the Honda Classic and we look forward to his return to tournament golf in the coming weeks, and to welcoming him again at The Honda Classic in future years.”
Woods skipping The Honda Classic also means that he will not play in the World Golf Championships - Cadillac Championship at Doral the following week. He currently sits outside the top 50 in the World Golf Rankings, meaning he is not eligible to compete. Based off the schedule he traditionally plays, that would mean the next opportunity for Tiger to tee it up would be Bay Hill and Arnold Palmer's event in mid March.
That would presumably give Woods one event to see if his game truly is tournament ready before the Masters. Once again, this is based off his tradtional schedule. He could always add the Palm Harbor event or either of the events in Texas, but at this point that seems unlikely.
This will be the first time in four years that Tiger will miss The Honda Classic.
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