Tiger Woods won't play in PGA Championship in Rochester: Here's why

There had been soaring hope in the Rochester golf community that Tiger Woods would be coming to Oak Hill Country Club next month for what would likely be his final appearance in a major championship on the East Course.

Those hopes were scuttled this week as Woods underwent surgery on his right ankle and not only will he be unable to play here, he could be out for the rest of the season.

He had said at the start of 2023 that one of his goals was to, at the very least, play in all four major championships. However, trouble began brewing two weeks ago at the Masters when he struggled to make the cut in unusually lousy weather at Augusta National.

On the hilly layout, which can be a demanding walk for players younger than the 47-year-old Woods, you could see him limping on the ankle that had been severely damaged in an auto accident back in February 2021. He was in so much pain that he had to withdraw midway through the third round.

That was an ominous sign for Oak Hill, though no one expected he would need surgery.

“The first goal is to recover and lead a much more enjoyable day-to-day life,” Woods agent, Mark Steinberg, said in a release.

Woods missed more than a year of tournament play after the accident, which he was lucky to survive. And since then, he has shown occasional flashes of what he once was, but those have been few and far between.

In his only other tournament this year, he tied for 45th in the Genesis Invitational which he hosts at Riviera outside Los Angeles. In 2021-22 he played only three times - the Masters, the PGA and the British Open - and in two of those he either missed the cut or withdrew during the event.

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Woods has played three times in Rochester. The first came as an amateur in 1993 when he competed in the Monroe Invitational at Monroe Golf Club. He then played in both the 2003 and 2013 PGA Championships at Oak Hill, and the East Course has not been kind.

In 2003 when he was still at the peak of his power, he shot a 72-hole score of 12-over, 292 which was the worst in relation to par in his career at a major championship to that point. His tie for 39th place that week was his worst finish as a professional in a major, this at a time when, from 1999 through 2002, he won seven majors.

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In 2013 he scored better at 4-over 284, but he finished lower, tied for 40th, again establishing a new career-worst finish in a major in which he played all 72 holes. He missed three cuts in majors between 2003 and 2013.

Sal Maiorana can be reached at maiorana@gannett.com. Follow him on Twitter @salmaiorana.To subscribe to Sal's newsletter, Bills Blast, which will come out every Friday during the offseason, please follow this link: https://profile.democratandchronicle.com/newsletters/bills-blast