Tiger Woods will not play in next week’s U.S. Open at Pennsylvania’s Oakmont Country Club, marking the third time in the past six years he will miss the major championship that he has won three times.
In perhaps a mild surprise, Woods also announced Tuesday that he will not play in the Quicken Loans National at Congressional Country Club the following week. That tournament benefits the Tiger Woods Foundation and was one that seemed a sensible fit for his long-awaited comeback.
“While I continue to work hard on getting healthy, I’m not physically ready to play in this year’s U.S. Open and the Quicken Loans National,” Woods said in a statement. “I am making progress, but I’m not yet ready for tournament competition.”
Thitiphu Chuayprakong, a 23-year-old from Thailand, is now in the U.S. Open field, as he was the first alternate from the Japan sectional qualifier and the USGA determined that he was first on its alternate list for Oakmont. Thitiphu has never played in a major.
Woods, 40, is recovering from two back surgeries performed last fall, the second apparently more serious than the first. It has been more than seven months since the last surgery on Oct. 28; he last competed in August at the Wyndham Championship, where the 14-time major winner tied for 10th.
“There have not been any setbacks,” Woods’ agent Mark Steinberg told ESPN.com. “But the process involves having to play two, three, four days and you have to stretch that out. He’s just not ready to put together the days consecutively that are necessary to compete at a high level. And some of it is a matter of feeling good as well as getting the game together.”
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