Tiger Woods edging closer to a competitive comeback is already one of the biggest storylines heading into 2026 — and now PGA Tour pro Kevin Kisner has dropped the strongest hint yet about when the 15-time major champion could actually return.
Woods, who underwent his seventh back surgery in October, turns 50 in just three weeks, meaning he’ll soon be eligible for the PGA Tour Champions. The good news? He’s finally been cleared to chip and putt again. The bad news? He won’t be teeing it up at either the PNC Championship with his son Charlie Woods just before Christmas or his team’s TGL home opener in January, despite confirming he will make an appearance.
And while Woods cheekily joked this week at Albany — ahead of hosting his Hero World Challenge — that he’ll be playing “25 events” across the PGA Tour and Champions Tour in 2026, everyone knew that was modern Tiger humour. The truth is, there’s still no official timeline from the man himself.
But someone close to him does have an idea.
Four-time PGA Tour winner and 2025 US Ryder Cup vice-captain Kisner, Woods’ TGL teammate at Jupiter Links GC reckons golf fans might not have to wait too much longer to see the Big Cat back inside the ropes again. Not long at all…
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Speaking on Trey Wingo’s podcast, Kisner, 41, revealed Woods, 49, could make a surprise return before the TGL season wraps up — potentially in March and just six weeks before The Masters, the one event sure to sit at the top of his comeback wish-list.
TGL is the tech-infused indoor golf league of Woods, Rory McIlroy and their TMRW Sports co-founder Mike McCarley. TGL got underway in January 2025, and it will welcome its second season on 28 December, two days before Woods celebrates the big 5-0.
“Well, we’re hoping that he’ll come back and play the last few TGL matches with us later this spring, early March or so,” Kisner said on Trey Wingo’s latest podcast episode, which you can watch in full below.
“It depends how the rehab goes. I talked to Tiger a good bit and he’s starting to feel a bit better, you’ve seen him moving around at Albany this week.”
Tiger fans will be hoping Kisner is bang on the money for an early March comeback to competition, as Jupiter Links face McIlroy’s Boston Common Golf on Sunday 1 March.
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Jupiter Links’ TGL Fixtures 2026
Date (ET)
Time (ET)
Home Team
Away Team
Tue, Jan 13
7:00 PM
JUP
NY
Tue, Jan 20
7:00 PM
JUP
LA
Mon, Feb 2
5:00 PM
ATL
JUP
Sun, Mar 1
9:00 PM
JUP
BOS
Tue, Mar 3
9:00 PM
BAY
JUP
As for the 2026 PGA Tour schedule, the Arnold Palmer Invitational at famed Bay Hill takes place in the first week of March, a tournament Woods has won an astonishing record eight times — so perhaps that will already have been penciled on the calendar.
The Players Championship at the equally famous TPC Sawgrass is then up the following week (12-15 March), and then four weeks later, it”s The Masters at iconic Augusta National (9-12 April), the season’s first major that Woods has won five times including perhaps his most memorable and against all the odds in 2019.
Woods is at Albany this week hosting his annual Hero World Challenge, where World No.1 Scottie Scheffler is hunting a historic three-peat.
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The joint-record 82-time PGA Tour winner has already been seen giving a group of golfers a helpful putting lesson, as he ramps up his comeback on the greens.
Kisner added that simply seeing Woods pain-free again would be a major win — and he wouldn’t rule out seeing Tiger dip his toe into the Champions Tour just to ease back into competition.
“Hopefully he’s just pain-free, that’s the biggest key,” Kisner continued.
“Even if he had to come back and play a few Champions Tour events just to get his feet wet and ride in a cart, that would be cool, right? That would be a huge boost to that tour.
“We all want to see him play and we’ll welcome him with open arms, but we want him to be healthy when he does it.”
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Watch Kisner’s comments in full here:
Some ardent PGA Tour fans have questioned whether the grind, the pain and the endless rehab is still worth it for Woods — especially as the former World No.1 has openly admitted he wishes the process was moving faster.
Prior to undergoing disc replacement surgery in his L4/5 Lumbar spine for lower back symptoms in October, Woods was already still recovering from surgery to repair a ruptured left Achilles tendon in March.
Woods also isn’t getting any younger.
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“It’s not as fast as I’d like it to be. It was a good thing to do, something I needed to happen, it just takes time and dedication to the rehab process,” Woods told reporters of his recovery status at Albany on Tuesday.
“Unfortunately I’ve been through this rehab process before and it’s step-by-step. Once I get a feel for the recovery process, I can decide where and when to play.
“Let me get back to playing again, let me do that and I’ll figure out the schedule. I just got cleared last week to chip and putt. It’s been six weeks last Friday [since the operation] and it’s been slow.
“You can’t really do much with a disc replacement, now we have the OK to start cranking it up in the gym and start strengthening.”
Woods is expected to provide a further update on his condition and what lies ahead for him when he appears in the commentary box during the final round of the Hero World Challenge on Sunday night.
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