'The fire still burns', says Woods as he targets return

Tiger Woods has said he still has the passion to compete and is working to get his body back in shape for next year.

The 15-time major winner has not played since July and underwent surgery for nerve impingement on his lower back in September, an injury he said took him by surprise and caused him tremendous pain.

But he insists he still wants to compete and believes he can be competitive again.

"This year I wasn't as sharp as I needed to be. I didn't play as much as I needed to going into the major championships and I didn't play well," said Woods, who is 49 later this month and missed the cut at the PGA Championship, US Open and British Open this year.

He finished 60th at the Masters, where he claimed his last major five years ago.

"Hopefully next year will be better, I'll be physically stronger and better. I know the procedure helped and hopefully that I can then build upon that," he said in the Bahamas, where he this week hosts, but will not be playing in, an unofficial event that features 20 of the world's top players.

"These are 20 of the best players in the world and I'm not sharp enough to compete against them at this level," he said. "When I'm ready to compete and play at this level, then I will.

"The fire still burns to compete. As far as the recovery process of going out there and doing it again and again and again and doing it consistently at a high level, I can't. The body just won't recover like it used to.

"That's part of age and part of an athlete's journey."

Besides the back and knee injuries that have dogged Woods for years he had a serious car crash in February 2021 during which he sustained multiple leg injuries.

Woods said the talks between the PGA Tour and the Saudi-backed LIV tour to unify the game had not gone as quickly as hoped.

"I think all of us who have been a part of this process would have thought it would have happened quicker than this. I think something will get done. In what form or shape, I don't know."

He also said of the mooted appearances fees for American players in the Ryder Cup that the team had discussed it as far back as 1999.

"We didn't want to get paid. We wanted to give more money to charity. The Ryder Cup makes so much money. Why can't we allocate it to various charities?

"I hope they (USA players) get five million dollars each and donate it all to different charities. It's so hard to get on to that team - there's only 12 guys. What's wrong with being able to allocate more funds?"

with agencies