Hope rises as The Masters appear to drop hint Tiger Woods could play this year

The Masters hint at Tiger Woods return to Augusta National 

As the clock ticks down to Augusta, the official Masters app is available for download. And on that app is a list of all of the players who could play this year. 

Among them is Woods, not in the “Past Champions Not Playing” section which features Jack Nicklaus and Nick Faldo, but just above Players champion Cameron Young on the list. 

And that’s not all. Woods’ player bio reads, “Tiger Woods is making his 27th Masters start in 2026”. Do they know something we don’t?

Obviously, this doesn’t guarantee Woods’ appearance. Far from it. But while some may have ruled Woods out from playing at the tournament this year, it’s certainly notable that The Masters themselves haven’t. 

At the very least, Woods himself hasn’t told the tournament that he won’t be playing.

What Tiger Woods said about his potential Masters return

It’s a bit of a red flag that Woods hasn’t yet played in TGL at the very least, as his Jupiter Links have reached the final of the indoor simulator league. 

He was therefore asked about his current playing status, and the five-time Masters champion said, “I said I’ve been working on it.

“Sometimes I have good days, sometimes I have bad days. Disk replacement is not a lot of fun. So Will Zalatoris went through it, he had two levels done, and it takes time.

“So as I said, I’ve had a lot of procedures prior to that, so the body doesn’t quite heal like it was when I was 24. Doesn’t quite bounce back. So I have good days when I can pretty much do anything, and other days where it’s hard to just to move around.”

That doesn’t sound great, but if The Masters are offering some hope that the greatest of all time will be back in action, then we’ll grab it with both hands!