When Will Tiger Woods Return To The PGA Tour?

As 2021 comes to a close, it's natural to turn your attention to what 2022 could hold. For the sports world, Tiger Woods's potential return will be a major story-line. Since Woods competed in the PNC Championship last weekend (his first tournament since he broke his right leg in multiple places in a serious car crash last February), fans have wondered if and when we'll see the 15-time Majors champ compete again on the PGA Tour.

"I'm not at that level," Woods said when discussing the timetable for his potential return. "It's going to take a lot of work to get to where I feel like I can compete and be at a high level."

While Woods had his positive moments at the PNC Championship, especially with his short game, he was clearly hampered by the lingering effects of his injuries; he notably struggled with walking the course for prolonged periods and his drives off the tee were shorter than usual.

But even with Woods' talk about not "rushing" back to action, does that mean we should rule him out for 2022? No. There's a great chance he'll never again be an every tournament kind of player, but at this point of his career, Woods shouldn't be. At this point, the only thing that Woods has yet to achieve is finally surpassing Jack Nicklaus's record of 18 Majors titles. And the good news for Woods is that there are ample opportunities for him to catch Niklaus, given that there are four Majors each year.

When considering his physical condition and how he performed at the PNC Championship, Woods could return to action at some point next summer, presumably at either the US Open in June or the Open Championship in July. By then, he will have roughly 18 months to recover from last February's car crash, which is in-line with how long it usually takes athletes to rehab from serious injuries. At this rate, it might be a surprise it Woods doesn't compete next year.