How about this for an irony: Now that Tiger Woods is ready to play again, he has no place to play.
Thanks to missing out on the FedEx Cup playoff series, Woods isn’t scheduled to play again until a tournament in Australia in August. That’s too bad, because he needs to be out there hitting shots in the heat of battle.
If I’m Woods, I get back to playing as soon as possible. It’s been suggested that he even enter some Nationwide Tour events that run concurrently during the FedEx Cup events. That’s not going to happen. He isn’t going to risk not making the cut in a lower level tournament. Talk about a new low.
Woods, though, should strongly consider entering the PGA Tour’s Fall Series at the end of September. It begins with the Justin Timberlake tournament. It would give him a good excuse to go to Las Vegas, where he reportedly has had some fun in the past.
There are four tournaments in the Fall Series. The events are geared for players who don’t qualify for the FedEx Cup, and for those who need to earn enough to money to stay in the top 125 and retain their card for next year.
Still, they are PGA Tour-caliber tournaments on PGA Tour-caliber courses. Woods would benefit from being out there.
It’s hard for me to believe Woods is going to correct what’s wrong with him by hitting balls at his new practice facility. He needs to be playing in tournaments where every shot counts. That’s the only way he’s going to get out of this mess.
If Woods does play, those Fall Series tournament will get much more interesting.
