After PGA Championship Struggles Should Tiger Woods Play US Open?

The 2022 PGA Championship saw the return of Tiger Woods, who hadn’t played since his T-47 finish at the Masters.

There was plenty of excitement and buzz surrounding his much-anticipated return, especially considering the last time this event took place at Southern Hills in 2007 when Woods had come away victorious.

While this week started out well for the American, things quickly turned bad, leaving doubt as to how his career might look in the coming months.

Tiger Woods experienced quite a rollercoaster of a week having started the tournament with 5 bogies in his first 9 holes.

As fans both in attendance and all over the world began to worry, Tiger Woods began to battle and showed the vintage determination that has made him so successful over the years.

In the next 27 holes to follow, Woods fired a combined -1 to sneak ahead of the cut line, giving himself a chance to compete on the weekend.

While it wasn’t his strongest performance, making the cut on such a tough course given the state of his current health was awfully impressive. Let’s not forget that eight of the top 18 players in the World, including Scottie Scheffler and Patrick Cantlay, failed to even make the cut.

It was difficult to watch Tiger Woods on Saturday at Southern Hills

What followed on Saturday was simply tough to watch. It was evident throughout the week that Tiger Woods was not 100% healthy, battling to walk up hills and wincing after every several shots.

In his third round, Woods shot a +9 that included 7 bogies, and even a dreaded double-bogey on Hole #6.

It was clear that Woods was tired and that his conditioning was not where it needed to be. Who knows if he will ever get that part of his game back fully.

With essentially no chance to compete for the title, Tiger Woods withdrew prior to the final round, citing leg and foot pain on his right side. In the end, it was his good friend and fellow American, Justin Thomas, who narrowly defeated Will Zalatoris after a 3-hole playoff.

What’s next for Tiger Woods?

It’s clear that Woods is mostly interested in playing the Major tournaments, focusing more on quality than quantity of events.

Tiger will be spending most of his time working on his recovery, something that is probably the best option for the all-time great. With the US Open now just 4 weeks away, and the Open Championship 3 weeks after that, those will most likely be the dates that Tiger Woods has circled in his calendar.

However, it remains to be seen if Woods will even be physically ready to compete by then after he couldn’t finish 72 holes at the PGA Championship.

One thing that is certain though is if there’s anything we know about Tiger Woods, it’s that he’ll do anything in his power to be at The Country Club at Brookline come June 16th.

Even if you aren’t the biggest fan of Tiger Woods, you have to admit that it was tough to watch him struggle on Saturday.

Since his accident, Tiger Woods has battled and worked to compete on Tour again, even while many thought that it wasn’t possible. It remains to be seen if his health will improve over time, or if he can ever return to his vintage form. Even if we only see Woods in the big events, just having him back on Tour is great for the sport.