The PGA Tour approved at the Ordinary Meeting held on Tuesday the creation of a special exemption for Tiger Woods. The one from Cypress could play the eight designated events of the season through an exemption created ad hoc and in recognition of the stratospheric career he has had.
The Players Council had already given the green light to the initiative, but it had to be ratified at the Meeting. A few hours ago, the creation of the so-called Tiger Woods category was approved.
The champion of 15 Majors would thus not need to use any of the invitations that the tournament itself has. If he is ready to play and wants to do so, he will only have to make use of this new exemption.
It is logical to think that Tiger would receive an invitation to any tournament he wants to play and is not classified. That is why the PGA Tour has decided to create this new category and prevent one of the few invitations always being allocated to the same player and that this was to the detriment of the rest of the golfers.
In the memorandum that the players have received with the conclusions of the Meeting, they have been informed of the news: “An additional sponsor exemption will be created to recognise Tiger Woods in his own category as a player who has had an exceptional career of achievements and with more than 80 victories”.
If any conclusion can be drawn from the aforementioned category, it is that Woods himself sees that his recovery is improving and that he plans to play more tournaments in the short term. It does not seem plausible that such an exceptional category would be created if Tiger did not see himself in a position to play more weeks at it. At the end of the US Open, Tiger acknowledged that he is at a crossroads between playing more with the risk of injury or not playing and arriving short of rhythm at the Majors. It seems that the one from Cypress is going for the first route.
