So much about the future of Tiger Woods is uncertain.<\/p>\n
Woods said Tuesday in the Bahamas he has just been cleared to chip and putt since a seventh back surgery<\/a> on Oct. 10. He is not playing in his Hero World Challenge and said he won\u2019t be playing in the PNC Championship in two weeks with his son. Even the indoor TGL League will have to wait.<\/p>\n \u201cUnfortunately, I\u2019ve been through this rehab process before,\u201d Woods said. \u201cIt\u2019s just step by step. Once I get a feel for practicing, exploding, playing, the recovery process, then I can assess where I\u2019m going to play and how much I\u2019ll play.\u201d<\/p>\n As for the Ryder Cup, he turned down the captaincy for this year<\/a> and was thought to be the logical choice for Adare Manor in Ireland in 2027.<\/p>\n \u201cNo one\u2019s asked me about it,\u201d Woods said and then repeated it for effect. <\/p>\n That\u2019s not to say there hasn\u2019t been plenty of discussions between the PGA of America and Woods\u2019 manager. Woods can say a lot with few words. Translation: He\u2019s not ready to talk about that yet. <\/p>\n What\u2019s consuming his time is the one area that doesn\u2019t involve birdies and bogeys, and it might be far more important than whether he tees it up at the Masters or joins the 50-and-older circuit on the PGA Tour Champions a few times next year.<\/p>\n Woods is chair of the Future Competitions Committee, which new CEO Brian Rolapp commissioned<\/a> to make significant change to the PGA Tour. Woods said the committee has met three times and taken input from everyone from title sponsors to television to tournament directors.<\/p>\n What began as a blank sheet of paper now has a thousand ideas. The hope is to have a new model by the start of the 2027 season. What emerges is unclear except it will be uncomfortable. Change isn\u2019t easily accepted.<\/p>\n \u201cYes, there\u2019s going to be some eggs that are spilled and crushed and broken,\u201d Woods said. \u201cBut I think that in the end, we\u2019re going to have a product that is far better than what we have now for everyone involved.\u201d<\/p>\n The three principles driving Rolapp\u2019s vision are parity, simplicity and scarcity.<\/p>\n It\u2019s the scarcity that has so many players nervous \u2014 fewer tournaments, shorter fields, slimmer odds for players who can\u2019t just show up and expect to contend the way Woods once did, and the way Scottie Scheffler does now.<\/p>\n \u201cBut don\u2019t forget, the golfing year is long,\u201d Woods said. \u201cSo there\u2019s other opportunities and other places around the world or other places to play that can be created and have events. So there\u2019s a scarcity side of it that\u2019s not as scary as people might think.\u201d<\/p>\n