Tiger Woods: Where will we see him play on the PGA TOUR in 2020?

Tiger Woods stayed committed to his reduced PGA TOUR schedule in 2019 even after winning the Masters. Will the same ring true in 2020?

It’s always a guessing game when it comes to divining what tournaments any PGA Tour player will enter. When it comes to Tiger Woods, it’s both harder and easier. Harder because in the last ten years he’s had a myriad of injuries and surgeries. Easier because he’s a creature of habit when it comes to courses he likes.

Woods likes courses where he has won, and on some courses, he’s won a massive number of times. At two or three courses, he’s won more than some PGA Tour players have in their careers.

Looking ahead at the 2020 schedule, while Woods has not yet committed to it, there is always a chance he will play the Farmers Insurance Open because he has won that tournament seven times and won the 2008 U.S. Open at Torrey Pines as well. If he’s going to pick a course to play out west, it’s likely to be that one.

Woods also hosts an event in the first quarter of the year, the Genesis Open. He has committed to play there already. However, that tournament isn’t until mid-February. Strangely, he’s never won at the tournament venue, Riviera CC. Whether it’s the set up or the greens, it just doesn’t suit him.

Because Woods qualifies for the WGC in Mexico, we may see him play there. So, the first two months of 2020 could be Farmers, Genesis, WGC Mexico.

It’s not likely we will see three-in-a-row from Woods, so his next likely, depending on how his body is doing, is the Arnold Palmer Invitational. He has won there eight times, most recently in 2013. To say he knows and likes the course is an understatement.

Immediately after the Arnold Palmer is The Players, which he has won twice, again most recently in 2013. Several golfers have won The Players two times, but only Jack Nicklaus has won three. Woods will gain entry to the tournament on his major winning status as well as his world ranking. He will have to beat the strongest field all year to win this one. No past champions get in. It’s all on world ranking and FedEx points and winning a recent major.

The only fly in the ointment on Woods playing those two in a row is the WGC-Dell Match Play which follows The Players. It’s doubtful he will play three. Does he want to go through all the matches? Or does he want to play stroke play only? We await his decision.

After that, Woods will no doubt start focusing on what most people think is his best chance for a next major, the Masters.

Once the Masters is over, it’s unlikely Tiger Woods plays until the PGA Championship. He used to play the Wells Fargo in Charlotte, but with what he has already said is going to be a reduced schedule, it just depends on whether he thinks he needs reps before the PGA.

The PGA Championship, which Woods gets in on winning last year’s Masters as well as past champion status. This year, it’s at Harding Park, and Woods has a WGC victory there in the distant past. He will have to beat the second strongest field of the year to win.

The next time Woods tees it up after the PGA could be Jack Nicklaus’ tournament, The Memorial. He has four victories there. In the old days of the tournament, there was very little rough, the way Augusta National used to be played in the pre-Tiger-proofing days.

But like all events, fairways at The Memorial were narrowed, mainly because of Woods’ ability to outdrive everyone in his early career. However, those days are now gone as even longer hitters, like Brooks Koepka, Dustin Johnson, Rory McIlroy, Jason Day and others have proven capable of combining some measure of accuracy off the tee with distance.

There’s only one week of regular PGA Tour golf between The Memorial and the U.S. Open, and so, Woods will skip the Canadian Open to prepare for the U.S. Open the following week. His status as a winner of the 2019 Masters as well as his world ranking guarantee him a slot in the U.S. Open, which will be played at Winged Foot. The last winner at that site was Geoff Ogilvy in 2006 after both Phil Mickelson and Colin Montgomerie failed to par the 18th hole.

July begins with another WGC event, and Tiger Woods likes to collect those titles. This one, the WGC-FedEx, is being played in Memphis, and with Woods living in south Florida, he’s going to be ready for the heat. However, if there’s one he might skip, it’s this one because of what is coming up in the schedule.

Two weeks later, it’s the British Open, being played at Royal St. George’s CC in England. Winners there have included Greg Norman, Sandy Lyle and surprise winner Ben Curtis. You never know what’s going to happen at the British Open.

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If Woods’s body holds up this far into the year, and if his play has kept his world ranking high enough, he might qualify for the Olympics in Tokyo. Certainly, that gives him a new goal. It’s not out of the question for him to skip the British Open in order to prepare and rest up for Olympic golf. It might be his last best chance to play in the Olympics due to his age.

Should Woods’ body hold together this far into the season, he could take one week off before the start of the FedEx Cup Playoffs and the end of the season. If he has enough FedEx Cup points, look for him to skip one of the first two events to focus on the Tour Championship at the end.

Now, there’s no way to know if Woods intends to play as much as indicated. He has said that he intends to play a reduced schedule from 2019 forward. So, we will just have to see what he actually decides to play.

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And don’t forget, 2020 is a Ryder Cup year. No doubt Tiger Woods wants to make the team on points, and he will know what he has to do to make the team. However, the Ryder Cup is nearly a month after the end of the 2020 season. Expect to see him there, regardless of what his full TOUR schedule shapes up to be.

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