As practice rounds got underway on Monday for the PGA Tour's Safeway Open in Napa, California, Tiger Woods announced he is not quite ready to return to tournament golf, and dropped out of the this week's tournament.
Woods has not played competitive golf in more than a year, but had eyed this weekend's tournament as his return to the game. Woods missed the entire 2016 season due to a back injury. Woods also announced he is dropping plans to participate in next month's Turkish Airlines Open.
Woods said in a statement he is feeling healthy, but his game is not where it needs to be.
Woods is not slated to play another tournament until December's Hero World Challenge in the Bahamas.
"I practiced the last several days in California, but after a lot of hours, I knew I wasn't ready to compete against the best golfers in the world," Woods said in a statement." I will continue to work hard, and plan to play at my foundation's event, the Hero World Challenge."
The 40-year-old golfer has not won a tournament since 2013. Woods was that year's PGA Tour Player of the Year, and top money winner. In the two years that followed, Woods was a shell of himself, often missing the cut in tournaments or dropping out.
Woods only has one top-10 finish since the start of the 2014 season.
