Tiger Woods to make competitive golf return alongside son at PNC Championship

The 15-time major champion will make his competitive return at a father and son event next week

Tiger Woods has confirmed he will return to competitive golf at the PNC Championship next week, 10 months on from suffering serious injuries in a car accident.

Woods has entered the invitational event alongside his son Charlie in his first tournament since requiring surgery on open fractures to his lower right leg.

The 45-year-old ruled out a full-time return to professional golf at a press conference last month in which he admitted he was lucky to be alive following the single-vehicle accident in February.

Woods also said he would “pick and choose” which tournaments he would enter once he made his competitive return to the sport and he has started with the father and son event in Orlando, Florida, which gets underway on December 16.

“Although it’s been a long and challenging year, I am very excited to close it out by competing in the PNC Championship with my son Charlie,” Woods said in a statement.

“I’m playing as a Dad and couldn’t be more excited and proud.”

Woods competed in the PNC Championship with son Charlie, 12, last year, where they finished in a tie for second place.

The 2019 Masters winner shared a video of him hitting golf balls as he stepped up his injury rehabilitation last month, sparking hopes that he could make another comeback to the sport. Woods won his 15th major tournament at Augusta after recovering from career-threatening back surgery.

Woods hosted his charity tournament, Hero World Challenge, in the Bahamas last week where he appeared in his first press conference since his February crash and offered an update on his progress and future plans.

He was found to be travelling at almost twice the legal speed limit when he crashed and he did not answer questions on the incident itself.

“It’s been a lot of hard work,” Woods said. “There were some really tough times, just laying there. I was in a hospital bed for three months.

“It’s hard to explain how difficult it’s been, to be immobile for three months. I was just looking forward to getting outside, that was a goal of mine.

“I was just looking forward to getting outside. Eventually I got to a point where they could wheelchair me out and I could feel the sun, that was like a milestone.

“I built a really nice house but I didn’t realise how big it was until you start putting crutches on. I am on the better side of it but still have a long way to go.”