Tiger Woods flew to Oklahoma on Thursday for a practice round at Southern Hills, the first step in deciding whether he can play in the PGA Championship.
The 18-hole practice round while walking came three weeks before the start of the PGA Championship being held May 19-22 at Southern Hills in Tulsa.
A person with knowledge of his plans, speaking to The Associated Press on condition of anonymity because only Woods can authorize such information, confirmed the practice round.
Woods made a remarkable return to golf at the Masters following his Feb. 23, 2021, car crash outside Los Angeles that shattered bones in his right leg and ankle. In his first time competing and walking a course, he made the cut for the 22nd straight time, though he tired on the weekend and his limp was more noticeable in the third and fourth rounds, when he shot 78 both days. He finished in 47th place out of the 52 players who made the cut.
Golf Channel reported that Southern Hills head pro Cary Cozby caddied for Woods on Thursday. Tulsa TV station KOTV showed an overhead shot of Woods putting. He was wearing a black sleeve on his right leg.
Southern Hills last hosted a major in 2007, when Woods won the PGA Championship for the second straight year and fourth time overall. That week featured his lowest score in a major, a 63 in the second round with a birdie putt that spun in and out of the cup on the final hole.
Woods left Augusta National unsure of when he would play next, although he confirmed he would be at the British Open at St. Andrews this summer.
He has entered the PGA Championship and the U.S. Open at Brookline in June, though that was a formality as an exempt player.
Woods’ movement was picked up by internet sites tracking his private plane from South Florida to Tulsa, along with a photo on Twitter showing the plane on the tarmac.
It didn’t generate the same buzz as when he went to Augusta National a week before the Masters, uncertain then if he would play the first major of the year.
Southern Hills is not as strenuous a walk as Augusta National, except for the steep decline walking off the first and 10th tees and the inevitable uphill climb back toward the clubhouse, with only slight elevation along the way.
While tired after the Masters, Woods could only see himself getting better.
“I don’t quite have the endurance that I would like to have had, but as of a few weeks ago, didn’t even know if I was going to play in this event,” he said after final round at Augusta National.
“To go from that to here, we’re excited about the prospects of the future, about training, about getting into that gym and doing some other stuff to get my leg stronger, which we haven’t been able to do because it needed more time to heal.”
Similar to the Masters, Woods likely won’t decide whether to play the PGA Championship until that week.
PGA: Jon Rahm lived up to his billing as the biggest star at the Mexican Open, chipping in for birdie and making a late eagle putt for a 7-under 64 and a five-way share of the early lead in the first round at Puerto Vallarta, Mexico.
Jonathan Byrd, Brendon Todd, Trey Mullinax and Monday qualifier Bryson Nimmer also were at 64.
LPGA: Minjee Lee shot an 8-under 63 to take a one-stroke lead over top-ranked Jin Young Ko after the first round of the Palos Verdes Championship in California.
Coming off a third-place tie Sunday in the LA Open at Whilshire Country Club, Lee had a bogey-free round at hilly Palos Verdes Estates in the first-year event that wraps up the LPGA Tour’s West Coast swing.
Charley Hull, Moriya Jutanugarn and Jennifer Chang shot 65.
EUROPEAN TOUR: Oliver Bekker shot a 6-under 66 to take a share of the first-round lead at the Catalunya Championship at Girona, Spain.
Seeking his first European tour win, the South African made eight birdies and a double bogey at the Stadium Course to finish tied with Jeff Winther and Darren Fichardt.
Winther had one bogey and seven birdies, and Fichardt made eight birdies to go along with a double bogey.
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