Tiger Woods: Predicting his 2019 PGA TOUR schedule

12) U.S. Open – Pebble Beach (June 13-16)

Just a reminder for anybody who might have forgotten: Tiger Woods won the 2000 U.S. Open at Pebble Beach at an aggregate of -12. The runners-up that year were Ernie Els and Miguel Angel Jimenez, coming in just FIFTEEN SHOTS behind Woods, at 3-over for the week.

Ten years later, Woods tied for fourth at Pebble Beach, despite a card of 74-72-66-75.

Like I said about the PGA – this will mark three straight majors at a site where Tiger has won before. To be fair, there aren’t many places where he hasn’t won anymore, but still.

13) 3M Open – TPC Twin Cities (July 4-7)

Okay, I readily admit that this is the longest shot on my schedule. Heck, perhaps it’s even a bit of wishful thinking, as I only live about 30-40 minutes away from the course. Hey, I never said this was a purely scientific endeavor.

Of course, there’s also some reality to this one. I don’t know that I expect Woods to take off the entire month between the U.S. Open and the Open Championship, so it pretty much comes down to where and when he chooses to play.

After a grueling U.S. Open week, taking two weeks off makes sense. Cross off the Travelers Championship and the Rocket Mortgage Classic (which replaced Tiger’s Quicken Loans National) from the schedule. The John Deere Classic at TPC Deere Run is very well liked, but Tiger won’t be playing in the Quad Cities when he could be getting valuable reps in at Royal Portrush.

That leaves us with a brand new event at a course that has hosted a highly popular PGA TOUR Champions event, the 3M Championship, for years. Minnesota loves golf and they’ll turn out in droves regardless of who is playing, but I like the chances for Tiger to tee it up in the inaugural event.

14) The Open Championship – Royal Portrush (July 18-21)

Woods had a fantastic run at the 2018 Open at Carnoustie, and he’ll be ready to go for another shot at the Claret Jug in Northern Ireland. Rory McIlroy might be the local favorite, but Woods will be nothing less than a close second in his first start in Ulster.

Woods has won three Open Championships in his career, twice at St. Andrews and once at Royal Liverpool. Can he make another run at the Claret Jug in 2019? I expect this to be one of the tournaments he spends the most time and planning to peak at, and that will show in his performance.

15) WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational – TPC Southwind (July 25-28)

This was the slot previously held by the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational (formerly the WGC-NEC Invitational), from 1999 through 2018. In 20 years of WGC play at Firestone, Woods won eight times, including six of the first nine events.

Now the tournament moves to TPC Southwind, the established host of the FedEx St. Jude Classic in Memphis, Tennessee. I don’t love the move for Tiger’s sake, but I also don’t think it will keep him from teeing it up in what I expect to be his regular-season closer. Big-time players play in big-time events, and there aren’t any bigger competitors than Tiger Woods.