Tiger Woods set up a grueling early-season schedule that suggests he might finally be healthy
Following his return to golf at the Hero World Challenge in December, Woods has booked a busy schedule to start the new year.
Woods' first official PGA event since 2015 will be the Farmers Insurance Open in Torrey Pines in late January. He will then play the Omega Dubai Desert Classic in Dubai, a European Tour tournament he's won twice.
Then, according to Ryan Lavner of the Golf Channel, he'll have a week off before returning to play the Genesis Open in California in mid-February, followed by the Honda Classic in Palm Springs, Florida, the week after.
In total, if Woods makes the cut at all four tournaments, he'll be playing from January 26 (the start of the Farmers Insurance Open) to February 26, the end of the Honda Classic, with only a week off in between.
That Woods feels confident enough to book such a hectic start to the year suggests his surgically repaired back is feeling good. Woods looked healthy at the Hero World Challenge, finishing 15th, but that was his first tournament in over a year and he's had plenty of time to recover since.
Additionally, Woods' return came at the Hero World Challenge because he pulled out of the Safeway Open in December because he felt he wasn't quite ready. Leading up to the Hero World Challenge, Woods told reporters that when he first returned to the golf course, his feet and ankles were sore just from walking the course, noting just how long he had been away from the game.
Now, Woods is scheduled to play actual tournaments with a good deal of travel and almost no rest in between. Though he could always drop out if he's physically incapable of playing them, for now, it looks like he's healthy.