Tiger Woods at centre of sad update ahead of The Players Championship

Tiger Woods has not entered the entry list for the Player's Championship, which means the next time golf fans will see the 15-time major winner will be at The Masters. Woods made his long-awaited return to the PGA Tour after playing at the Genesis Invitational.

The 47-year-old hadn't played since The Open last year. His return also marked the first time Woods had played 72 holes since The Masters in April.

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Woods' highly-anticipated return saw him score 69, 74 and 67 before closing with a two-over 73 to finish one under par at the Riviera Country Club. He also played the Pro-Am before the four days of golf.

The return garnered plenty of attention heading into the four majors in 2023. Woods remained coy on his schedule, other than confirming his plan was to play the majors and maybe one or two other events.

This meant some golf fans held out hope he would participate in the highly-prestigious Players Championship next week. However, in tough news, Woods did not enter the main draw.

Woods will most likely play The Masters as his next event, which will be a tactical ploy to rest his injured body to handle the rigours of major tournaments. Up to 43 of the World Top 50 golfers have entered The players Championship.

Woods hasn't played the tournament since 2019. He won the competition in 2001 and 2013.

Unfortunately for fans, many were left disappointed in the hope Woods would line-up with the best players in the world. Others admitted they didn't think the golf icon would take part in the event so close after the Genesis Invitational.

Tiger Woods' candid admission after PGA return

While Woods made a competitive return to golf at Riviera, after the tournament the American admitted he didn't know the next tournament he would complete in before the majors. "Competitively, I don't know," Woods said of his schedule.

"My goal each and every year from here going forward is to play in all the majors. I'm not going to play too much more than that. My body – my leg, and my back – just won't allow me to play much more than that any more.

"That was my goal last year, and I was able to play three of the four. This year hopefully I can play all four. That is going to be my schedule going forward, because of all the limitations I have."

The Masters starts on April 1 and it appears Woods won't play a warm-up event. Woods also discussed his leg injury and said he was confident in his game after the first hit-out in 2023.

"My game is fine," Woods said. "Yeah, it is rusty, I made some silly mistakes here and there. I didn't quite pick up the speed of the greens each and every day fast enough – like I normally would if I was playing – but overall, I feel like I hit the ball like I have been hitting it at home.

"Now I just happened to bring it out here where I had to walk from point A to point B, and that was always the difficulty of it. I'm just so thankful for all my team for getting me ready each and every night, and morning, and at least giving myself a chance to go out there and play – and I was able to do it."