Tiger Woods confirms he will play The Masters next week with rare update on his website as the 15-time major winner is listed to address the media at Augusta National on Tuesday

Tiger Woods is officially locked in for The Masters next week after he issued a rare update on his website. 

The 48-year-old had long been expected to tee it up at Augusta National but with less than a week to go until the first major of the year, the golf legend confirmed his presence in the field himself. 

Woods’ website issued a rare schedule update on Friday, now listing The Masters as his next tournament. 

It was also announced on Friday that the 15-time major winner will speak to the media on his return to Augusta. 

Woods is scheduled to hold a press conference at 11am on Tuesday, in between reigning champion Jon Rahm and Rory McIlroy. 

Woods’ presence at the major championship had been long expected after he was officially listed in the field on the tournament’s website last month.

He is continuing his comeback from ankle surgery after he was forced to withdraw from last year’s Masters following the third round due to injury. 

Woods last played competitively at the Genesis Invitational in February where he was also forced to withdraw, this time through illness just six holes into the second round. 

The golf legend backed out of the Genesis after suffering ‘flu-like symptoms’ and entering his second round with a fever, his business partner and close friend Rob McNamara had said. 

Woods made a remarkable return to competitive golf at The Masters in 2022, just 14 months after a single-car crash in February 2021 almost cost him his leg. 

The injuries he sustained during the accident have made walking the course a struggle with the 82-time winner on the PGA Tour limping at times. 

Woods was in visible pain during the wet, blustery third round at Augusta National last year, before being forced to withdraw due to reaggravated plantar fasciitis.  

He underwent surgery in April to help with the injury and kept a relatively low profile on and off the course, before making a competitive return at the Hero World Challenge.

The previous concern over Woods’ ability to play a round was not his game itself but rather the issue of walking the course due to the pain in his ankle and leg. 

However, following the surgery, he revealed that walking was no longer as great a concern.

‘I’m not concerned at all walking it,’ he said back in November. ‘I don’t have any of the ankle pains I had with the hardware that has been placed in my foot. That’s all gone, but it’s more the other parts of my body, my knee hurts, my back, the forces go somewhere else. Just like when I had my back fused, the forces got to go somewhere. It’s up the chain. 

‘So as I said, I’m just as curious as with all of you what’s going to happen. I haven’t done this in a while.’ 

Augusta National has been a special place for Woods and his career, providing the site for not only his 2022 return but also his triumphant comeback in 2019 when he won his fifth Masters and his first major in 11 years – 15th in total.