Woods to skip WGC Event to Prepare for PGA Championship

(Reuters) – Tiger Woods, who has made one start in five months, said on Friday he will skip next week’s World Golf Championships-FedEx St. Jude Invitational so he can prepare for the Aug. 6-9 PGA Championship in San Francisco.

The decision means the Masters champion, who is one win shy of a record-breaking 83 PGA Tour victories, will go into the year’s first major having played just one event since the PGA Tour returned in June from its three-month COVID-19 hiatus.

Woods, in his first start since mid-February, made the cut on the number at last week’s Memorial Tournament in Dublin, Ohio where he finished in a share of 40th place at six-over-par and 15 shots back of the winner.

The five-time Memorial champion struggled in the final round during which his shot game abandoned him, and he carded five bogeys and a double-bogey en route to a four-over-par 76.

In his two other PGA Tour starts in 2020, Woods finished in a share of ninth place at the Farmers Insurance Open in January and then finished last among those who made that cut at the Genesis Invitational in February.