Tiger Woods OUT of Open Championship

Fifteen-time major winner Tiger Woods will not play at the Open Championship next month.

It had seemed unlikely the legendary golfer would feature at Royal Liverpool after undergoing surgery in April, but the R&A have confirmed his absence.

Woods won the last of his three Claret Jugs at Hoylake in 2006, but he will not recover before the final major of the year returns to Liverpool.

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Mike Woodcock, Director of Corporate Communications at the R&A, told Bob Harig of Sports Illustrated: “We have been advised that he won’t be playing at Hoylake.”

After making the cut at the Masters in April, Woods was forced to withdraw during the third round and has not teed it up in the PGA Championship or US Open since.

Following the withdrawal, the American had a subtalar fusion on his right ankle and foot to address “post-traumatic arthritis” caused by his previous talar fracture.

A statement posted on Woods’ Twitter account confirmed the procedure had gone well but offered no exact time of return to competitive action.

Various sources reported that it could take between six to 12 weeks to recover from that procedure, which left a tight turnaround to make an appearance at the 151st Open this July.

Top surgeon Dr Bill Mallon told The bunkered Podcast in April that golf fans were likely to go between nine and 12 months before seeing Woods play competitively again.

He said: “There may be a chance for him to get back in December in time for a couple of those ‘silly season’ events.

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“He could possibly play in those if everything goes well, but I suspect the next time we could see him try to play a tour event is next year’s Masters.”

The last time Woods played at Hoylake was in 2014, when Rory McIlroy lifted the title that week.

That was the first major Woods competed in after back surgery the month before, finishing 69th on six-over-par.

John Turnbull A graduate of the University of Stirling, John joined the bunkered team in 2023 as a Content Producer, with a responsibility for covering all breaking news, tour news, grassroots content and much more besides. A keen golfer, he plays the majority of his golf at Falkirk Golf Club. Top of his 'bucket list' is a round of Pebble Beach... ideally in the company of Gareth Bale.