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Tiger Woods will miss the PGA Tour's flagship event, the Players Championship, at TPC Sawgrass in Ponte Verda Beach, Florida, next weekend as his name was not included in the 144-player field released on Friday (March 8), ESPN reports.
Woods, 48, who had previously won the Players championship twice, has not appeared in the event since 2019. The 15-time major champion publicly stated his intention to play in about one tournament per month as he continues to recover from fusion surgery he underwent last April to address post-traumatic arthritis in his right foot and ankle caused by a life-threatening crash in 2021.
Woods' absence comes weeks after he withdrew from the 2024 Genesis Invitational tournament on February 16 due to influenza while serving as the tournament's host.
"I would like to confirm that I had to withdraw from @thegenesisinv due to illness, which we now know is influenza. I am resting and feeling better. Good luck to the players this weekend. I’m disappointed to not be there and want to thank @GenesisUSA and all the fans for the support," Woods wrote.
Woods, widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential golfers of all-time, was involved in a single-car crash in Los Angeles on February 23, 2021, which resulted in open fractures affecting both the upper and lower portions of his tibia and fibula in his right leg, as well as other injuries to his foot and ankle.