However, Woods has surprisingly decided to skip the popular Players Championship this week in what would have likely been his only event before The Masters.

The flat TPC Sawgrass golf course was seen as an ideal tournament for Woods to keep his game fresh.

Tiger Woods is not in the field at the Players Championship

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But it was also the last time Woods qualified for the Players Championship as a major champion in the past five years.

Woods’ win at The Masters in 2019 granted him a five-year exemption into the Players Championship, but he’s not taken up that opportunity once.

If Woods ever plans to make it back to the Players Championship in the 144-player field before the end of his career, he’ll have to meet some strict requirements.

Any win on the PGA Tour will grant him an exemption for the following Players tournament.

If that doesn’t happen then he’ll need to break into the top 125 on the FedEx Cup points list or win another major among a handful of other criterias.

That looks unlikely and there’s a very real prospect Woods may never play in the Players Championship again.

PGA Tour commissioner Monahan was asked about the prospect of creating a ‘special category’ for someone like Woods to help him return to TPC Sawgrass one more time.

But Monahan doesn’t think Woods would accept being given special privileges to play the event.

“I think you all know Tiger well enough to know that he wants to earn his way into all of — into every competition,” Monahan said. “That’s his makeup.

Jay Monahan doesn’t think Tiger Woods would accept a special invite to play the Players in the future

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“But I think as you go forward and as you evolve as an organization and you think about how do you serve and satisfy a rabid fan base, those discussions more broadly would likely be held at the Policy Board meeting, and I’m sure we would have that discussion.

“But he would be the hardest one to convince.”

Monahan was also pressed about the PGA Tour’s ongoing merger negotiations with Saudi Arabia’s Public Investment Fund.

Tiger Woods withdrew from the Genesis Open due to an illness

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While insisting the talks are “accelerating”, he refused to give much more away about the discussions.

He said: “I recently met with the governor of the PIF, Yasir Al-Rumayyan, and our negotiations are accelerating as we spend time together.

“While we have several key issues that we still need to work through, we have a shared vision to quiet the noise and unlock golf’s worldwide potential.

“It’s going to take time, but I reiterate what I said at the TOUR Championship in August. I see a positive outcome for the PGA TOUR and the sport as a whole.”