The PGA Tour Champions is set to host the Hoag Classic next week, but Tiger Woods is absent from the field. The golf veteran has failed to commit to the Senior Tour’s upcoming event, which means fans will still have to wait to see their favorite back in action.

The Hoag Classic is set to take place from Friday, March 27, to Sunday, March 29, at Newport Beach Country Club in California. The event will be the last Senior Tour event before the Masters, and fans were expecting Woods to play here ahead of his potential return at Augusta.

With Tiger Woods not being in action at the Hoag Classic, the doubts about his return at the Masters have increased further. As of now, he is still in the field for the first major and hasn’t confirmed or denied anything more about it.

For the uninitiated, the fifteen-time major champion hasn’t competed in any professional event since the Open Championship 2024. He played in the PNC Championship and TGL after that but got injured while ramping up practice for the Masters.

Woods underwent another back surgery later in 2025 and has been out of action since. He has been present at SoFi Center for Jupiter Links TGL games but has been cheering them on from the sidelines.

What did Tiger Woods say about his recovery in the past?

Tiger Woods has made several statements about his recovery in the last couple of months. Prior to the start of TGL, he said he was still on the road to recovery.

“I need a little bit more than that to be able to play here,” he said. “At my speed right now, I could probably play the Stinger hole. Just kind of roll it off the tee. But no, I’m progressing, which is nice. I’m getting there and getting stronger. It’s just one of those things where it just takes so much time for the bone to heal and the bone to set.”

The 82-time PGA Tour champion also said that, with him entering his 50s, he had to look at a few things.

“So that number is starting to sink in and has us thinking about the opportunity to be able to play in a cart,” he said during TGL. “That’s something that, as I said, I won’t do out here on this tour because I don’t believe in it. But on the Champions Tour, that’s certainly that opportunity.”

During the Genesis Invitational, Tiger Woods hinted at a potential return at the Masters Tournament but didn’t clarify anything about competing. The ace golfer has won five times at Augusta and needs one more win to equal Jack Nicklaus’s tally of green jackets.