- Leo Carlsson, rookie Beckett Sennecke lead Ducks’ over Blackhawks
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- I Donâ€t Care Who Hears It
- Yang Hansen, rookie from China, makes first NBA start
- Sting Says This Feud Changed Everything for His Career
- Tiger Woods takeaways, future PGA Tour schedule logistics
- Report: Contract length on one of WWEâ€s signings in 2025
- 2025 MLB Winter Meetings preview
Browsing: Woods
Check in every week for the unfiltered opinions of our writers and editors as they break down the hottest topics in the sport, and join the conversation by tweeting us at @golf_com. This week, we discuss Tiger Woods’ first public comments in months, the potential for a new PGA Tour schedule, Rory McIlroy’s career major total and more.
Tiger Woods spoke to the media for the first time in several months when he held his annual press conference at the Hero World Challenge in the Bahamas (won by Hideki Matsuyama). Tiger touched on a variety of topics; which was most interesting to you?
Dylan Dethier, senior writer (@dylan_dethier): I was most intrigued by Woods’ involvement in the future vision for the PGA Tour; I wrote about that here but what’s fascinating to me is the pairing of Woods — the ultimate insider, and at this point one of the Tour’s longest-tenured figures in any position — and Rolapp — the ultimate outsider with admittedly very little golf-specific knowledge — as the shapers of the Tour’s future.
Josh Berhow, managing editor (@Josh_Berhow):I don’t think anyone anticipated this particular presser getting so into the rumored schedule changes, but I thought Tiger speaking about it added some legitimacy to it. The health update was both unsurprising and disappointing. I don’t think Tiger can come back and contend regularly these days, but it would be fun to see him healthy and play a few times a year. The watch is on for the Masters.
James Colgan, news and features editor (@jamescolgan26): I was most interested by Tiger’s comment about YouTube. He indicated he felt the infinite video library of swings on the internet was helping to turbocharge golf’s youth movement. Every so often, you’ll hear Woods say something that reflects he thinks about golf on a wholly different plane from most mere mortals. One example was when he started talking about the “cut” and “draw” spin necessary on chip shots at Augusta National. This was another.
As the chair of the Future Competitions Committee, Tiger also indicated the Tour is looking at creating a shortened schedule (and avoiding the NFL) that could begin in 2027, although he was light on details. There’s been much talk about the potential for a new Tour schedule in the future, but what’s the biggest hurdle from making it all happen?
Dethier: Ironically one of the things the Tour wants to change is the same thing preventing it from making that change. There are so many [buzzword alert] stakeholders, so many separate deals with so many different tournaments that it’s challenging to get everything just right for everyone without crossing a dozen can’t-cross lines. Put another way: the Tour is a big boat, and it’s tough to turn a big boat around.
Berhow: Wow, love the boat analogy, Dylan. Good work. But the answer is there’s a lot in the way of making something like this happen. I’d love a schedule that takes the best 70-some players and puts them in the same 20 or so events a year (including majors) and all of a sudden we have some simplicity, continuity, distinction and burgeoning rivalries. But what about the middle class? How many members are there? How does the Korn Ferry Tour factor in? What about the smaller events? It’s frustrating we still don’t have a great way to do this, but I am also happy I’m not the person in charge of this. Because it can’t be easy.
Colgan: Every so often, the history of a major professional sports league comes down to the brute force capacity of its leadership. For baseball, this happened with the pitch clock. For basketball, with the first and second “aprons.” For football, with the 2011 lockout. I think brute force is the biggest hurdle facing the PGA Tour, and we’ll know if Woods and PGA Tour CEO Brian Rolapp have the gumption for it soon enough.
Six-time major champ Nick Faldo said it will be “tough” for Rory McIlroy to win another major title, saying, in part, “it is like climbing Everest, you don’t turn around and say, ‘Let’s go up again next month.’ There was so much emotion at Augusta, and you cannot reproduce the emotion to win a major like that again.” Do you buy this? And what say you, how many more majors does Rory win in his career?
Dethier: Faldo’s right that you can’t reproduce that emotion. But you can certainly recharge and come back hungry for more. I’ll give Rory two more majors, seven in all, rarified air and one more than Faldo…
Berhow: It seemed like a bit of a cheap shot since technically you could say this about any recent major champ. But that’s what makes these guys great. They find ways to keep that drive and continue to push back the goal posts. Rory wins three more majors. He’ll have enough chances.
Colgan: The very centerpiece of Sir Nick’s argument here is wrong. The emotion was Rory’s greatest obstacle to breaking the major drought — not a superpower. A Rory McIlroy playing more freely, more aggressively, and more self-assuredly would have won eight majors over the last decade — and the freedom to live into that version of himself is what’s going to accelerate the last stage of his competitive life.
The PGA Tour released the finalists for its Player of the Year (Jack Nicklaus Award) with Scottie Scheffler, Rory McIlroy, Tommy Fleetwood and Ben Griffin earning nominees. While it seems likely Scottie snags his fourth straight this year, let’s look ahead: which player not on this list will be a nominee at this time next year?
Dethier: Cameron Young. The second half of this season, with his victory and Ryder Cup star show, was a turning point. Cam’s time is coming.
Berhow: Tommy Fleetwood. Another guy who got hot late and will continue to build off it. I also think a healthier Xander bounces back and returns to something closer to that 2024 form.
Colgan: Lots of fun answers to this question, in part because of the number of players who seemed to take a half-step back (due to injury or form or some other reason) in 2025. I’ll go with Ludvig Aberg, who was the trendiest pick in golf to win at Augusta in April. We’ve seen golfers take a step back in their second pro season before, only to bounce back in a severe way in Year 3. Aberg still has all the talent, it’s just a matter of time.
The PGA Tour and LPGA merge for the Grant Thornton Invitational this week in Florida. Which two-person pairing is the most intriguing to you?
Dethier: Bud Cauley and Jessica Korda for one simple reason — we haven’t seen Jess Korda play competitive golf in two years! In the meantime her younger sister has had a career’s-worth of successes, with a few rollercoaster dips mixed in for good measure. Fun week ahead.
Berhow: The Jessica Korda pick is a good one. I’ll go with Luke Clanton and Lottie Woad, a pair of former Florida State standouts who have the potential to be stars on the big tours.
Colgan: I can’t explain why, but it feels to me like Wyndham Clark and Lexi Thompson have lived similar lives. I’m excited to see them in action.
Tiger Woods isn’t playing this week’s Hero World Challenge — but he’s still making his presence felt.
Woods, whose pre-tournament press conference included some hints about a change in direction for the PGA Tour, has been on property at Albany throughout the week serving as tournament host. On Saturday he stalked the range pre-round, visiting with contenders — including Sweden’s Alex Noren, who he chatted up and queried about his swing.
We’ve seen and heard plenty of evidence already this week that Woods is invested in the modern game; read how Woods described what he admires about the game of World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler:
“Of Scottie’s game? Yeah, I truly love watching him hit irons, the shaped shots that he hits, the trajectory, the window changes that he has, the distance control, the miss in the proper spot, the proper spin in certain pin locations,” Woods said. “These are all subtle things that mean a lot over the course of 72 holes. That to me is impressive. If you don’t have trajectory control, you can’t have distance control. To see him move it up and down in different windows, use wind, fight wind and control spin is fun to watch.”
(That was just part of his answer.)
Noren is a fascinating guy to watch practice given his unique pre-shot routines and his inclination to dig it out of the dirt. He’s also at a fascinating place in his career, the kind of guy who served as assistant captain for this year’s European Ryder Cup team but also nearly played his way onto it.
Whatever Woods said to Noren had a positive effect: he started par-birdie-eagle and played his way into the penultimate final-round pairing after a five-under 67. He’ll start Sunday’s final round in T3, three shots off Sepp Straka’s lead and two behind World No. 1 Scottie Scheffler.
Noren won DP World Tour events in August and September and played his way inside the top 20 in the world; one more top finish would cap off a strong final third to his year.
“Last year I took a lot of time off and kind of worked a lot on my game, but this year I tried to play more tournaments this end of the season,” Noren said. “You see where you’re at for next year. Then I have about a month and a half to kind of fix the things that I don’t like right now and fine-tune it.”
As for his visit with Woods? Noren could only grin.
“Yeah, it’s amazing. I grew up idolizing Tiger,” he said. “That was a perfect time in my life. I was 18 in 2000, 16 in ’98 when he kind of came on. So yeah, I mean, I have so much respect for him and admiration.
“And seeing him out there and asking questions and — not that he’s asking questions for his own [benefit], but I think he just loves golf and it was good to talk to him.”
As the Detroit Red Wings celebrate their centennial campaign, few figures can say theyâ€ve both played for the franchise and spent decades behind the microphone.
The beloved Mickey Redmond, the first 50-goal scorer in Red Wings history, fits that bill, as he’s been a longtime mainstay on Red Wings television broadcasts since 1986.
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Soon after Redmondâ€s playing days ended in 1976, a new face with ties to another Original Six franchise, the Montreal Canadiens, joined the Red Wings. And like Redmond, he’s become synonymous with Detroit hockey broadcasts.
Forward Paul Woods, who was originally selected by Montreal in the third round (51st overall) of the 1975 NHL Draft, never appeared in a game for the Canadiens and instead won two Calder Cup championships with their American Hockey League affiliate, the Nova Scotia Voyageurs.
However, it wasn’t long before he would be exposed in the 1977 NHL Waiver Draft and then subsequently scooped up by the Red Wings, where he would spend his entire NHL playing career before eventually transitioning into the field of broadcasting.
Woods admitted that he was frustrated that his career didn’t seem to be gaining much traction with the Canadiens, but that when he received the news of getting a chance with the Red Wings, he initially believed it to be a prank pulled by one of his teammates.
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“I was in Montreal and it was my third training camp there,” he said. “I was frustrated that I got sent down, and then a phone call came to me on a pay phone, just showing how much times have changed since then. It was someone from the Red Wings organization, and they asked, ‘If we took you today in the Waiver Draft, will you come?’
“I thought it was a prank, but I said, ‘Yeah sure, I’ll come.’ I thought it was one of my teammates that were just fooling around, trying to get me going.”
Bookmark The Hockey News Detroit Red Wings team site to stay connected to the latest news, game-daycoverage, and player features.
However, he soon received the confirmation that sent him into full on elation – so much that he needed to pull his car over.
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“It came on the radio that I got picked by Detroit in the Waiver Draft,” he said. “I stopped the car and got out, and just started dancing around the car, I was that excited.”
Woods spent seven full seasons with the Red Wings and became the youngest captain in franchise history at the time, a mark later surpassed by 21-year-old Steve Yzerman in 1986, a role he would hold for 19 seasons.
Woods is one of 37 players in the Red Wings†century-long history to wear the captainâ€s “C,†a distinction heâ€s proud of, though he emphasizes that team success depends on everyone.
“It takes the entire team,” he said. “I guess captains are a sign of respect. The coaches decide that, it’s just who they picked to do it. I was involved in a lot of things, but it’s something to be proud of for sure.”
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Upon Woods’ entrance into the NHL in 1977, the Red Wings’ time at historic Olympia Stadium, which they had called home since 1927, was winding down.
As the surrounding neighborhood declined and crime increased, the Red Wings planned to build a new arena in the suburb of Pontiac before a counteroffer from the City of Detroit led to the hasty construction of Joe Louis Arena on the riverfront.
“It was a great building, it wasn’t that big, and it went straight up almost,” Woods said of Olympia Stadium. “The crowd was always right on top of you, it was a very intense building. The ice was outstanding, it was great.”
When the Red Wings moved from Olympia Stadium in December 1979, their new home wasnâ€t yet fully completed. Although it would go on to host countless nostalgic moments for new generations of fans, it took time for the arena to develop the signature charm that players and supporters eventually came to love.
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Woods admitted he wasnâ€t fully on board with the move to Joe Louis Arena at the time, but he eventually grew to appreciate it like so many others.
“Back in those days, I didn’t understand much about economics,” he said. “Not that I’m some great scholar of it now, but the point was for me, I didn’t think it made sense to be leaving such a great place to go to Joe Louis, which wasn’t even completely finished that that point.”
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“It didn’t seem like a good move at the time, but then it did turn out to be good because Joe Louis got its own identity,” he said. “And with the championships and the teams we had, it became a great place to play in, too.
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But I did love Olympia and the history of it. With (Gordie) Howe, (Alex) Delvecchio, Ted Lindsay, Bill Gadsby, all the different great players who played there, it meant something to me.”
Woods played one final season with the AHLâ€s Adirondack Red Wings in 1984–85 before transitioning into broadcasting, an career move that he never saw coming.
“I’d be the last person who would probably have ever gotten involved in that, but when I was done playing, they gave me a call and asked if I’d be interested in trying it. My plan was to do it for one year, just to say that I did it.
But then I started to understand it a a little bit better over time, and there was way more to it than I thought.”
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Like any good student of the game, there is plenty of preparation that goes into the work behind the scenes for any given broadcast.
“For me, it’s like preparing like back in my school days,” Woods explained. “Just like preparing for a test – if you don’t do it, you’ve got that bad feeling when you get there. So I like to keep myself prepared, going over the information of the previous night in the NHL, what’s happening and what’s going on, and just looking at the different teams and try to come up with a few interesting points.
Woods holds the distinction of being the current longest-serving radio color commentator in Detroit sports history. He initially worked alongside longtime Red Wings commentator Bruce Martyn until his retirement in 1995.
From that point on, Woods has been shoulder to shoulder with Ken Kal, a partnership that has lasted over 30 years.
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“Just like the Bruce Martyn, they have great calls and it’s exciting,” Woods said of working with Kal. “You get dragged into the action when you have that excitement, and you’re enjoying just litending to it as you’re waiting for your moment to say something that’s noteworthy.”
“He’s a great broadcaster, and so was Bruce. I’ve been very fortunate to have (worked with) two guys like that.”
Woods has been behind the microphone as color commentator for four Red Wings Stanley Cup victories, along with another two appearances in the Stanley Cup Final in 1995 and 2009 that would fall short.
The collective euphoria of the 1997 Stanley Cup win, the first by the Red Wings in 42 years, was shared not only throughout the city but at all levels of the Red Wings organization.
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“It’s not an easy thing to do, there are so many teams in the NHL that have never won the Cup,” Woods said of the 1997 win. “It was a great, great moment and something you never forget…it took us a long time to get to that point when we were winning the Stanley Cup with so many lean years before we got there.”
“It means a little bit more too, I think, when you’re an Original Six team.”
Like the players traditionally do, Woods got his own day with the Stanley Cup, a special privilege that was arranged by the team.
“The Red Wings worked it out so that even the broadcasters could have it for a day,” Woods said. “I was coaching my son’s team, I had the Stanley Cup in the dressing room there; it affects so many people in different ways.”
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While his NHL career lasted just over 500 games, Woods has now worked over 3,000 Red Wings games as a commentator, and says coming to the rink never gets old.
“I’ve enjoyed every minute of it,” he said. “Had someone told me when I was a kid that as I got older in life that they’d be paying me to watch hockey and talk about it, I’d take that deal all day long.”
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Welcome! Where are you, you ask. I’m calling this the Weekend 9. Think of it as a spot to warm you up for Friday, Saturday and Sunday. We’ll have thoughts. We’ll have tips. We’ll have tweets. But just nine in all, though sometimes maybe more and sometimes maybe less. As for who I am? The paragraphs below tell some of the story. I can be reached atnick.piastowski@golf.com.
Talk of scarcity this week wasn’t scarce.
Tuesday, at the Hero World Challenge, Tiger Woods had thoughts on it. Scarcity, he said, was one of the pillars of the soon-to-come new-look PGA Tour. If there are potentially less tournaments, that could heighten the importance of the ones remaining, the idea goes. Or you’ll miss golf when there isn’t golf.
“The scarcity thing is something that I know scares a lot of people,” Woods said, “but I think that if you have scarcity at a certain level, it will be better because it will drive more eyes because there will be less time.”
That seems right.
Right?
Wednesday, about 10,000 miles away, at the Australian Open, Rory McIlroy opined. He noted that he and others were playing in Melbourne. And that there were 20 pros at the Hero. And that there was the Nedbank Golf Challenge in South Africa. (And he didn’t mention that the 50-and-over gang is playing the Skechers World Champions Cup, and the LPGA is playing its final stage of Q-School, which is arguably the biggest event this week, should life-changing moments be important to you.)
“I think because there’s so much golf and there’s so many tournaments, the eyeballs are divided,” McIlroy said. “And the interest in every one of those tournaments this week is probably not as high as it should be. I think this tournament in particular because of the history, because of the tradition, deserves to be a standalone tournament, a week on its own.
“Hopefully one day the powers that be can put together a schedule where the biggest and best tournaments in the world and the oldest and the ones with the most heritage can be elevated and stand on their own.”
This seems more right.
The reasoning in reducing the PGA Tour schedule is sound. Tournaments after majors seem strange — you don’t play a regular-season game after the Super Bowl or the World Series, after all. The plan of a tournament nearly every week from January through November is also a lot.
But pro golf is not just the PGA Tour. And PGA Tour golfers play all over, too. At PGA Tour-affiliated events, like this week. On the DP World Tour, like this week. TGL. Hit-and-giggles, like the Skins Game on Black Friday and next week’s Golf Channel Games. Shoot, maybe there’s even a day where there’s LIV Golf crossover. And what does the casual pro golf fan see? Golf, golf, golf. And that’s great to those who love golf on their screens, no matter the day, week or month.
But scarcity is then just a word.
Will that change? You hear whispers. McIlroy’s often talked of a world tour, and he’s probably not talking just to hear his voice; he’s part of the conversation. Consider too another theme of PGA Tour redevelopment.
Simplicity.
“So not only the players understand,” Woods said, “but the fans can understand it, what goes on every week, week to week, how they can follow and how we can make it better.”
Let’s see if we can find eight more items for the Weekend 9.
One takeaway from the week
Major champs battling…in sixsomes?! How new team event stands apart
By:
Alan Bastable
2. This exchange between Keegan Bradley and a reporter on Wednesday at the Hero World Challenge stopped me. The reporter’s question is in italics.
If you could give yourself a letter grade for this season, what would you give yourself?
“Well, that’s a complicated question because I’m really proud of the way I’ve played,” Bradley said. “I think in a lot of ways it’s the best year of my career. My rookie year I won twice with a major, so that’s going to be tough to beat. But with everything that was going on, I’m really proud of the way that I played.
“But when you factor in losing the Ryder Cup, I mean, it’s an ‘F.’ Without — you’ve got to go and win that and this grade’s different. It’s really tough to grade. I was talking to my coach. He said, ‘Remember, you won this year.’ I was like, ‘No, I don’t remember that at all.’
“It was a unique year. I think a year that no — really no other player has ever experienced. I’m proud of the way I played certainly, but the end of the year was difficult.”
We can argue about Bradley’s performance as Ryder Cup captain (and there are decisions in which to be critical). But is there another currently playing American who’s more invested in the event?
Is there a way that can be absorbed?
One takeaway for the weekend
3. As noted above, this week’s most consequential event will be LPGA Q-School. The 90-hole tournament runs Friday through Tuesday, and the leaderboard can be found here. (Thursday’s first round was postponed due to unplayable course conditions.)
Next week, the PGA Tour will hold its Q-School.
4. The best story at LPGA Q-School? It may be Kim Kaufman, who a year ago was diagnosed with breast cancer. You can read more on her here, via a story by Golfweek’s Beth Ann Nichols.
An instruction story for your weekend
5. Robby Payne of Chrome Unboxed tried to get Gemini 3 to be his son’s swing coach. Payne’s story can be read here.
A golf story that interests me
6. Min Woo Lee recently accepted sister Minjee’s Greg Norman Medal — considered Australia’s highest individual golf honor — and the acceptance speech might be one of the best things I’ve heard all year. You can watch it below.
Another golf story that interests me
7. The Weekend 9 doesn’t go into politics often, but this was good.
Scott Morrison of the University of California-Berkley, in a story for phys.org, wrote here about a study that looked at whether the play of PGA Tour pros was affected when they played with pros with opposing political viewpoints.
One more golf story that interests me
8. This was good. Lydia Blackstone of wjcl.com wrote here about how a pair of golfers at Crescent Pointe Golf Club in Bluffton, S.C., helped rescue a beached manatee on the course’s 9th hole.
What golf is on TV this weekend?
9. Here’s a rundown of golf on TV this weekend:
– Friday
9:30 p.m. (Thursday)-1 a.m. ET: Crown Australian Open second round, Golf Channel
4 a.m.-9:30 a.m. ET: Nedbank Golf Challenge second round, Golf Channel
Noon-4 p.m ET: World Champions Cup, ESPN
1:30 p.m.-4:30 p.m. ET: Hero World Challenge second round, Golf Channel
– Saturday
9:30 p.m. (Friday)-1 a.m. ET: Crown Australian Open third round, Golf Channel
4 a.m.-9:30 a.m. ET: Nedbank Golf Challenge third round, Golf Channel
Noon-2 p.m. ET: Hero World Challenge third round, Golf Channel
2:30 p.m.-5 p.m. ET: Hero World Challenge third round, NBC
– Sunday
9:30 p.m. (Saturday)-1 a.m. ET: Crown Australian Open final round, Golf Channel
4 a.m.-9:30 a.m. ET: Nedbank Golf Challenge final round, Golf Channel
11:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m. ET: Hero World Challenge third round, Golf Channel
1 p.m.-5 p.m. ET: World Champions Cup, ABC
1:30 p.m.-4:30 p.m. ET: Hero World Challenge final round, NBC
What you’re emailing me
10. Let’s do 10 items! This was in response to my story last week that tried to figure out why the term ‘skin’ is used in skins game:
Building on your research, it seems to me that going back further, people have been “risking their own skin,” with skin being a synecdoche (I just wanted to use the word) for the whole person for a long time. That likely moved on to having skin in the game, initially perhaps in gambling situations.
One suspects that some competitive golfer didn’t like playing just against the course, or betting only on a two-dollar Nassau, but wanted every hole to be more interesting. He then egged on his playing companions to get some skin in the game on every hole. Probably the hunter’s brag about how many pelts (skins) he had bagged didn’t hurt the imagery.
11. Let’s do 11 items! This was in response to my story about the car accident I was in — and the title provided by the emailer was great (I’ve withheld the name).
Enjoy reading your thoughts and stories! Glad you’re OK after the accident! Hope you have a great Thanksgiving (my fav holiday). To quote a friend, ‘Keep breathing’
Fish Whisperer, Bourbon Taster & Raconteur
One non-golf/golf thing
12. So about that accident …
It had happened as I was traveling back home to help my nephew with a college visit. A college golf visit actually. And Thursday, the young man shared the post below:
Tiger Woods, about two months after undergoing a back surgery, said on Tuesday he could now putt.
Then he did.
Coached some folks, too.
One could guess you’d see at least some golf this week from Woods, who is hosting the Hero World Challenge. Below, you can watch the 15-time major winner via a two-minute video released Wednesday on his events team’s social media feeds. Below that will be some additional thoughts.
What moves first in the putting stroke, according to Tiger Woods
The putter head, he said.
Not the body.
“Just like in a golf swing,” Woods said.
Why Tiger Woods looks like he’s ‘punching’ his putts, according to Tiger Woods
On his putts, Woods will move his putter back to a length appropriate to the length of the putt, bring it back, make contact, then the follow-through will look short — or, as he said, like a punch.
He explained why.
“I believe the weight of the golf ball is what slows the putter down,” Woods said in the video. “So I accelerate all the way through, but the weight of the putter head actually slows it down, so it looks like I’m punching it. I’m just putting all the energy into the ball, and the ball ends up slowing the putter head down.
“You see some players have a follow-through like that [a longer one], but I don’t understand that because I’ve always — if you see a guy hit a punch shot, his swing is going to be shorter on the follow-through versus a guy hitting up on it and picking it. It’s going to be a longer follow-through. Well, it’s the same kind of concept. If you have the weight of the ball stopping the putter head, then the momentum is going to be slower on the front side. It’s not going to look the same. So it looks like I’m punching it, but this weight of this golf ball is just slowing this mass [the putter head] — that’s all.”
Why older putters help with Tiger Woods’ putting stroke, according to Tiger Woods
Woods said that’s because they’re mostly smaller.
“With a much lighter grip and smaller grip, my overall mass of the putter is much lighter,” Woods said in the video. “So since it’s much lighter, it gets affected by the weight of the ball much more than these newer putters. Your putters with bigger grips, bigger heads, more mass, it’s going to go through more than my putter does.
“Ben Crenshaw’s little 8802 putter? Thing stops right away. It has no mass to it. So that weight of the ball gets really affected. So that’s why it looks like I’m doing that, but I’m really not.”
But should YOU putt like this?
Good question. Maybe the best answer is comfortability. If you do a 360 twirl before putting and the ball goes in, then do a 360 twirl. If your follow-through is longer for whatever reason and the ball goes in, then keep your follow-through longer.
Tiger Woods, about two months after undergoing a back surgery, said on Tuesday he could now putt.
Then he did.
Coached some folks, too.
One could guess you’d see at least some golf this week from Woods, who is hosting the Hero World Challenge. Below, you can watch the 15-time major winner via a two-minute video released Wednesday on his events team’s social media feeds. Below that will be some additional thoughts.
What moves first in the putting stroke, according to Tiger Woods
The putter head, he said.
Not the body.
“Just like in a golf swing,” Woods said.
Why Tiger Woods looks like he’s ‘punching’ his putts, according to Tiger Woods
On his putts, Woods will move his putter back to a length appropriate to the length of the putt, bring it back, make contact, then the follow-through will look short — or, as he said, like a punch.
He explained why.
“I believe the weight of the golf ball is what slows the putter down,” Woods said in the video. “So I accelerate all the way through, but the weight of the putter head actually slows it down, so it looks like I’m punching it. I’m just putting all the energy into the ball, and the ball ends up slowing the putter head down.
“You see some players have a follow-through like that [a longer one], but I don’t understand that because I’ve always — if you see a guy hit a punch shot, his swing is going to be shorter on the follow-through versus a guy hitting up on it and picking it. It’s going to be a longer follow-through. Well, it’s the same kind of concept. If you have the weight of the ball stopping the putter head, then the momentum is going to be slower on the front side. It’s not going to look the same. So it looks like I’m punching it, but this weight of this golf ball is just slowing this mass [the putter head] — that’s all.”
Why older putters help with Tiger Woods’ putting stroke, according to Tiger Woods
Woods said that’s because they’re mostly smaller.
“With a much lighter grip and smaller grip, my overall mass of the putter is much lighter,” Woods said in the video. “So since it’s much lighter, it gets affected by the weight of the ball much more than these newer putters. Your putters with bigger grips, bigger heads, more mass, it’s going to go through more than my putter does.
“Ben Crenshaw’s little 8802 putter? Thing stops right away. It has no mass to it. So that weight of the ball gets really affected. So that’s why it looks like I’m doing that, but I’m really not.”
But should YOU putt like this?
Good question. Maybe the best answer is comfortability. If you do a 360 twirl before putting and the ball goes in, then do a 360 twirl. If your follow-through is longer for whatever reason and the ball goes in, then keep your follow-through longer.
Tiger Woods, about two months after undergoing a back surgery, said on Tuesday he could now putt.
Then he did.
Coached some folks, too.
One could guess you’d see at least some golf this week from Woods, who is hosting the Hero World Challenge. Below, you can watch the 15-time major winner via a two-minute video released Wednesday on his events team’s social media feeds. Below that will be some additional thoughts.
What moves first in the putting stroke, according to Tiger Woods
The putter head, he said.
Not the body.
“Just like in a golf swing,” Woods said.
Why Tiger Woods looks like he’s ‘punching’ his putts, according to Tiger Woods
On his putts, Woods will move his putter back to a length appropriate to the length of the putt, bring it back, make contact, then the follow-through will look short — or, as he said, like a punch.
He explained why.
“I believe the weight of the golf ball is what slows the putter down,” Woods said in the video. “So I accelerate all the way through, but the weight of the putter head actually slows it down, so it looks like I’m punching it. I’m just putting all the energy into the ball, and the ball ends up slowing the putter head down.
“You see some players have a follow-through like that [a longer one], but I don’t understand that because I’ve always — if you see a guy hit a punch shot, his swing is going to be shorter on the follow-through versus a guy hitting up on it and picking it. It’s going to be a longer follow-through. Well, it’s the same kind of concept. If you have the weight of the ball stopping the putter head, then the momentum is going to be slower on the front side. It’s not going to look the same. So it looks like I’m punching it, but this weight of this golf ball is just slowing this mass [the putter head] — that’s all.”
Why older putters help with Tiger Woods’ putting stroke, according to Tiger Woods
Woods said that’s because they’re mostly smaller.
“With a much lighter grip and smaller grip, my overall mass of the putter is much lighter,” Woods said in the video. “So since it’s much lighter, it gets affected by the weight of the ball much more than these newer putters. Your putters with bigger grips, bigger heads, more mass, it’s going to go through more than my putter does.
“Ben Crenshaw’s little 8802 putter? Thing stops right away. It has no mass to it. So that weight of the ball gets really affected. So that’s why it looks like I’m doing that, but I’m really not.”
But should YOU putt like this?
Good question. Maybe the best answer is comfortability. If you do a 360 twirl before putting and the ball goes in, then do a 360 twirl. If your follow-through is longer for whatever reason and the ball goes in, then keep your follow-through longer.
Laura Woods fainted live on air during ITV’s coverage of the Lionesses’ victory over Ghana, with pundits Ian Wright and Anita Asante catching her as she fell.
The 38-year-old presenter was leading coverage of England’s final match of 2025, and the last of the ‘Homecoming Series’ which has seen Sarina Wiegman’s side also face Brazil, Australia and China in a series of friendlies.
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What happened to Laura Woods?
Ian Wright has been praised for his quick response in catching the presenter, alongside Anita Asante (Image credit: Getty Images)
Just moments before kick-off on ITV4, Woods suddenly collapsed while speaking with pundits Wright and Asante. Wright, who had been responding to one of her questions, stopped mid-sentence as both he and Asante instinctively moved to break her fall.
ITV’s reaction was fast and controlled. Within seconds, the live shot cut away from the trio pitchside and instead moved to an angle of the pitch from above. Microphone audio was also dropped.
Laura is all ok and with the right people. Thank you for all of your kind messages December 2, 2025
ITV then went to a commercial break.
When coverage resumed, Katie Shanahan stepped in for Woods and advised viewers that she had been “taken ill.”
Woods was then helped on site by medics, and it was confirmed that it was not serious to avoid unnecessary viewer speculation.
At half-time, Shanahan added: “As you may all be aware, Laura Woods fell ill at the start of the programme. We want to reassure you that she’s doing okay. We all send her our love.”
It was a great example of managing these difficult on-air situations, with all parties involved acting quickly to avoid distress to Woods and viewers.
What has Laura Woods said about fainting live on air?
Woods’ fiancee, reality TV star Adam Collard, issued an update on social media to fans: “Laura is all OK and with the right people. Thank you for all of your kind messages.”
Woods later reassured viewers in a message posted on Instagram: “Gosh that was a bit weird. Sorry to worry everyone, I’m ok, the wonderful paramedics at Saints have said it’s probably a virus, just need a bit of rest & hydration.
“I’m really embarrassed that happened on tv, but a big thank you to my colleagues at ITV who have really looked after me tonight. And to Wright & Neets for catching me and sorry again.”
Tiger Woods broke a 10-month silence on Tuesday morning at the Hero World Challenge with a cannon blast.
In his annual pilgrimage to the dais at the Hero World Challenge, Woods hinted that the PGA Tour was on the precipice of upending its competitive schedule — a potentially ground-altering shift for golf’s largest professional tour.
“We’re trying to figure out what is the best schedule possible so we can create the best fields and have the most viewership and also the most fan involvement,” Woods said Tuesday, directly referencing schedule changes that have been rumored for months under new PGA Tour CEO Brian Rolapp. “Looking at different timetables of when we start and finish, different tentpoles throughout the year and what that might look like.”
Woods was speaking in the caged language of a seasoned pro, but the implication of even these carefully chosen words was enormous. Tiger was intimating something much larger than a reassortment of the calendar — he was advocating for a change in the way the PGA Tour views itself.
The mantra behind the shift? Rolapp told us in his opening press conference: Keep it simple, stupid.
“The sports business is not that complicated,” Rolapp said then. “You get the product right, you get the right partners, and your fans will reward you with their time.”
Woods’ perspective on a new Tour schedule holds added weight as the golf world turns its gaze toward 2026. The 15-time major champ is the chair of the PGA Tour’s so-called “Future Competitions Committee,” or FCC, a collection of players and influential sports business voices tasked with creating an “optimal competitive model” for the Tour under Rolapp.
For weeks, rumors have swirled around the committee’s findings, including several reports that the Tour could look to establish a shorter, more streamlined regular season competing largely outside of the NFL season. Those rumors were substantiated by a report from Golf Digestand comments from U.S. Ryder Cupper Harris English, who suggested the new season could begin after the Super Bowl and conclude around Labor Day.
On Tuesday, Woods indicated the Tour was indeed pursuing a truncated schedule beginning perhaps as quickly as 2027. The new schedule, Woods said, aims to simplify the PGA Tour for the fans. It also features an unambiguous set of goalposts: football season.
“That’s one of the reasons why we quit playing in September and October and even early November back when I was playing in my early days at the Tour Championship,” Woods said, alluding to the NFL. “There’s this thing with ‘The Shield’ that’s out there that’s influential.”
Golf has long debated the merits of a war with the most profitable sports property in the world. In 2006, Woods was among the players who spoke out aggressively against PGA Tour events on NFL weekends, arguing that golf deserved its own place in the sports calendar (and, critically, its own offseason). In the years that followed, PGA Tour commissioners Tim Finchem and Jay Monahan defied these desires by expandingthe PGA Tour schedule as part of a broader effort to maximize the value extracted from the Tour’s TV rights agreements. Those efforts worked, and the Tour enriched itself to the tune of tens of billions, but the schedule grew increasingly bloated … and increasingly confusing. Woods’ words from Doral in 2006 lingered.
“We have an 11-month season, and that’s too long,” Woods said then. “I think we should end with Labor Day. How can we compete against football? It’s not going to happen.”
Some takeaways from a surprisingly insightful Tiger Woods at the Hero.
– Interesting to hear Tiger talk so candidly about PGA Tour schedule changes. Intimated that a shorter, football-avoidant PGA Tour could be coming as soon as 2027. Lots of smoke here, but Tiger is the first…
— James Colgan (@jamescolgan26) December 2, 2025
Rolapp knows the significance of the NFL’s planet-shattering dominance better than most. He spent nearly three decades working in the league office under commissioner Roger Goodell, including more than a decade as the point person for the league’s media properties. He was hired as Tour CEO largely for his skills in expanding the NFL’s media business through platforms like Thursday Night Football, though it appears he is now responsible for enacting the kind of structural shrinking rarely seen in today’s world of ballooning TV rights deals. In this endeavor, Rolapp’s NFL experience might not be much help: “The Shield” hasn’t faced structural change like the kind on Rolapp’s plate since expanding to a 16-game regular season in 1978.
But there is a component of the old NFL playbook that should work in Rolapp’s favor at the Tour. Under Goodell, Rolapp perfected the league’s strategy of reach — or bringing the biggest games to the biggest stages where they could be watched by the most fans. In many ways, the ethos behind this NFL strategy was the same: simplicity.
“Well, this is fan-based. We’re trying to give the fans the best product we possibly can,” Woods said. “And if we’re able to give the fans the best product we can, I think we can make the players who have equity in the Tour, we can give them more of that.”
The PGA Tour calendar is an unusual beast by professional sports standards. Unlike most pro sports — where the regular season builds toward the biggest weeks of the year — golf’s biggest weeks occur in the middle of the regular season at the major championships. The FedEx Cup Playoffs and Signature Events series aimed to solve golf’s “camelback” schedule by creating a more natural flow to the season and a dramatic, season-ending conclusion, but the system always lacked coherence. The points system was hard to understand, the playoffs featured no fewer than five different formats, and the immediate start of the subsequent “fall season” cost the Tour much of the momentum it sought to create.
Last week, at an event hosted by CNBC, Rolapp announced the unifying theory behind any forthcoming PGA Tour changes: Not to make money or sign a bigger TV deal, but to create a competitive structure that was easy for anyoneto understand.
“Part of professional golf’s issue is it has grown up as a series of events that happened to be on television,” Rolapp said. “As opposed to, how do you actually take those events, make them meaningful in their own right, but cobble them together in a competitive model, including with a postseason that you would all understand whether you’re a golf fan or a sports fan.”
It’s a tricky needle to thread. Golf’s traditions are some of what endear the sport to its diehards — and the annual cadence of the calendar is frequently cited by players as a benefitof Tour life. Upending those traditions in favor of a slimmer, sleeker schedule might help attract a bigger audience, but it might also turn away the Tour’s core group of fans, including some of its members.
Five years ago, baseball faced a similar conundrum. Its games were slow, its viewership stagnant and aging, and its rules outdated. A new commissioner, Rob Manfred, was hired to refresh the product. He pushed rule changes that infuriated the fanbase and threatened more than a century of a tradition. After no small amount of handwringing, the changes were ratified.
But then a strange thing happened: Baseball flourished. Game times were halved, stadium attendance rose and the sport’s viewership metrics spiked. Those changes are still young, and it is early to call them unmitigated successes, but on the whole they provide a blueprint for the kind of brave new world that could be in golf’s near future.
Woods was coy about whether any of the Future Competitions Committee’s proposed changes could echo of baseball, but one key member of Manfred’s delegation serves alongside Tiger on the FCC: Former commissioner’s consultant Theo Epstein, who encouraged many of Manfred’s rule changes under the one-word ethos of “action.”
“We have some incredibly smart player directors, some independents and some leaders that have led in change in other sports,” Woods said. “So trying to pull all of that together with Brian’s leadership and stewardship, that’s what we’re trying to implement all these different things.”
Of course, there is a financial incentive to simplicity in pro golf. Woods said he believed the windfall of the potential changes could be “fantastic” for Tour players — and Rolapp is staking his first impression with the golf fanbase (and his membership) on the bet that Woods is right.
But the big takeaway from Woods’ words on Thursday morning was that he believes a “better” PGA Tour and a “richer” PGA Tour aren’t necessarily in conflict.
It has been a long, complicated road to get here. But now the path forward is clear.
And, perhaps just as important, it’s simple.
Tiger Woods was honest, unfortunately so.
Toward the end of his press conference Tuesday morning at the Hero World Challenge, which now doubles as an annual state of Tiger Woods address, he said this:
“I know I’m not really saying a whole lot, but I’m trying to say as much as I possibly can.”
That response in particular followed a question on what the PGA Tour could soon look like, though it could have also come after he was asked about a potential return to playing, the othersubject that dominated the presser. Given the presumed sensitivity of both topics, some vagueness was to be expected. Still, Woods is often guarded with his comments, knowing well that what a 15-time major winner opines on will likely become a headline.
But give the man the opportunity to talk shop, and he morphs into a blogger. This has happened occasionally, and when he opens up on the golf swing, we also get a peek under the hood of his golf cart, so to say.
Tuesday, for example, Woods told us about a pair of his viewing habits.
The part of Scottie Scheffler’s game that Tiger Woods loves watching
This came after a pair of questions. They are written in italics, and Woods’ answers follow.
The last couple of years or maybe a little more, we have all marveled at whatScottie has been doing with his consistency, and the one word that keeps coming back is that it’s almost Tiger-like. You have done it, you have been there. What’s your appreciation of what Scottie has been able to do and anything that you really like about his style?
“Well, there’s nothing you can’t not like about Scottie,” Woods said. “He’s one of the nicest guys you’ll ever meet. What he’s doing on the golf course is just incredible, the consistency day in and day out, the strategy that he — how he attacks the golf course. It starts from — you can see him analyze it from the green back where the flag is, where he wants to miss a tee shot, what club to hit, where the wind is, what side of the tee box he’s to start off on. It’s truly amazing at how thoughtful he is and strategic he is throughout the entire round.
“And on top of that, he doesn’t have lapses in a round like most players do. He’s there, present for all 18 holes and all shots played and that’s hard to do. To do that day-in and day-out with the grueling schedule that the Tour has and the players are playing now in more of a condensed season, and the big events that he’s playing in. I mean, he won six times and they’re not small events. He’s beating the best fields. So that’s something that I certainly can appreciate and I think that I hope everyone else appreciates it as well because you just don’t see this happen very often.”
Across the categories, Tiger, he is leading — he was the No. 1 for this year. Is there any part of his game that you really love watching? One part of the game?
“Of Scottie’s game? Yeah, I truly love watching him hit irons, the shaped shots that he hits, the trajectory, the window changes that he has, the distance control, the miss in the proper spot, the proper spin in certain pin locations,” Woods said. “These are all subtle things that mean a lot over the course of 72 holes. That to me is impressive. If you don’t have trajectory control, you can’t have distance control. To see him move it up and down in different windows, use wind, fight wind and control spin is fun to watch.”
The takeaway: There’s endless curiosity in how players watch other players. Some of that is due to seeing the game differently than an average player; TV banks on this thought when broadcasts employ pros as analysts. There’s also a thought that when a peer appreciates something specific about someone, that’s maybe a look into what they value most, or wish to have for themselves — or both.
Woods’ quotes may hit on those ideas, especially the “windows” quote. What are the windows? He’s talked about them before — and did so extensively on a video with TaylorMade, which you can watch here — but, in short, it’s a thought about nine zones (or windows) for a ball to exit through. Do amateurs spot Scheffler working the ball up, down, left and right? Maybe, maybe not. Should they? For sure, especially in practice. After all, Woods was appreciative.
Why pros are better at a younger age, according to Tiger Woods
2025 Hero World Challenge: TV schedule, streaming info, how to watch, tee times
By:
Kevin Cunningham
It’s YouTube. Woods’ complete answer is below.
“I think the reason is the fact that one of the big — in my vision, I think it’s a lot has to do with YouTube, seeing swings.
“Before, I had VHS tapes. I would tape a weekend round of golf and then watch it on — hoping the tracking worked halfway decent and try and get a swing. Sometimes the swings didn’t even look good; I didn’t even know who that was.
“Seeing so many different swings over and over again and the instruction level has gotten better, the curve it took to understand how to play the game’s gotten faster. You didn’t have to necessarily go out there and dig it out of the dirt; now you can watch it on your mobile phone and learn that way. It’s gotten faster and younger. Just like all kids, they’re sponges for information and they can make changes on the fly.”
The takeaway:The image of Woods plugging a VHS tape into a VCR and recording broadcasts is something, as is the image of him working the remote.
Want to be great at golf? Just put in that level of commitment — and make sure your family doesn’t tape over your recording.