The 2023 Players Championship is one of golf’s biggest events each year.
Known unofficially around the sport as the “fifth major” tournament, the marquee stop on the PGA’s Florida swing carries the biggest purse of the year at an eye-popping $25 million. The winner will net $4.5 million alone.
Which is why it’s no surprise all of the big names on the PGA Tour flock to TPC Sawgrass to take on one of golf’s toughest tests. Except the biggest name in the sport won’t be playing this year.
Tiger Woods is once again skipping the event despite having won it twice (2001, 2013) after making his season debut at The Genesis Invitational. Though not without good reason.
The field for @THEPLAYERSChamp next week has been released.
The 144-player field Includes 43 of the top 50 players in the OWGR.
Tiger Woods is not in the field, having not committed by the Friday 5 p.m. deadline.
See the full field below: pic.twitter.com/aqfCs3GeHo
— Golf Central (@GolfCentral) March 3, 2023
Woods is still working through a number of injuries stemming from a 2021 car accident. That means skipping even the more elevated events on Tour. After Woods completed play at the Genesis —an event he hosts — he described what his likely schedule for the summer:
“Here’s the deal: Like I told you guys last year, I’m not going to play any more than probably the majors and maybe a couple more. That’s it, that’s all my body will allow me to do,” Woods said. “My back the way it is, all the surgeries I had on my back, my leg the way it is, I just can’t. That’s just going to be my future.”
That means the next time we may see Woods tee it up is the first week of April when Augusta National opens its doors for The 2023 Masters. As of early March, he’s still considered a bit of a long-shot to win his sixth green jacket.
It’s an unfortunate reality for the 47-year-old but one he seems ready to face with pragmatism. Even if it means missing some of the biggest events each year.