Tiger Woods postpones return due to plantar fasciitis, withdraws from Hero World Challenge 2022
After more than four months of absence since the last tee at the 2022 Open Championship in St. Andrews, Tiger Woods is expected to return to the field this week at the 2022 Hero World Challenge, the tournament hosted by his foundation. Instead, Woods was forced to withdraw from his own event and delayed his return to golf due to an injury to his right foot.
Woods explains, “During preparing and training for this week’s Hero World Challenge, I developed plantar fasciitis in my right foot, making walking difficult. “After consulting with doctors and coaches, I have decided to retire this week and focus on my hosting duties.”
Sepp Straka, who is ranked 29th in the world, will replace Woods at the event, bringing the number of top 30 players in the field to 18 from 17.
Although a wound to the same leg was surgically repaired in a car wreck in February 2021, it is not known whether stress in that joint caused plantar fasciitis.
The Hero World Challenge is the first of three events Woods is expected to compete in before the end of 2022. Woods still plans to team up with Rory McIlroy to take on Justin Thomas and Jordan Spieth in the new installment. of The Match on December 10, and he also hopes to be fit enough to join his son, Charlie, in the 2022 PNC Championship starting December 17.
The Hero World Challenge is a small, unclassified tournament that will feature Jon Rahm, Xander Schauffele, Scottie Scheffler and last year’s champion Viktor Hovland in Woods’ absence.
December will be a particularly busy month for the 15-time big winner. After playing just nine rounds of competition all year, he is expected to play seven games over the next three weeks. Now that’s down to three — a 12-hole match against McIlroy, Thomas and Spieth, in which the cart will be used, and two 18-hole rounds with Charlie in Orlando, in which Tiger used a trolley a year ago.
In the long run, this is not very noticeable. Woods’ recovery, even after playing three majors in 2022, has been erratic with constant stops and starts. This may not even change the expectations of how many times we see him in 2023. It is assumed he will play most if not all the major championships and as he has been. previously stated, can tick another league or two here or there.
