Tiger Woods

So much about the future of Tiger Woods is uncertain.

Woods said Tuesday in the Bahamas he has just been cleared to chip and putt since a seventh back surgery on Oct. 10. He is not playing in his Hero World Challenge and said he won’t be playing in the PNC Championship in two weeks with his son. Even the indoor TGL League will have to wait.

“Unfortunately, I’ve been through this rehab process before,” Woods said. “It’s just step by step. Once I get a feel for practicing, exploding, playing, the recovery process, then I can assess where I’m going to play and how much I’ll play.”

As for the Ryder Cup, he turned down the captaincy for this year and was thought to be the logical choice for Adare Manor in Ireland in 2027.

“No one’s asked me about it,” Woods said and then repeated it for effect.

That’s not to say there hasn’t been plenty of discussions between the PGA of America and Woods’ manager. Woods can say a lot with few words. Translation: He’s not ready to talk about that yet.

What’s consuming his time is the one area that doesn’t involve birdies and bogeys, and it might be far more important than whether he tees it up at the Masters or joins the 50-and-older circuit on the PGA Tour Champions a few times next year.

Woods is chair of the Future Competitions Committee, which new CEO Brian Rolapp commissioned to make significant change to the PGA Tour. Woods said the committee has met three times and taken input from everyone from title sponsors to television to tournament directors.

What began as a blank sheet of paper now has a thousand ideas. The hope is to have a new model by the start of the 2027 season. What emerges is unclear except it will be uncomfortable. Change isn’t easily accepted.

“Yes, there’s going to be some eggs that are spilled and crushed and broken,” Woods said. “But I think that in the end, we’re going to have a product that is far better than what we have now for everyone involved.”

The three principles driving Rolapp’s vision are parity, simplicity and scarcity.

It’s the scarcity that has so many players nervous — fewer tournaments, shorter fields, slimmer odds for players who can’t just show up and expect to contend the way Woods once did, and the way Scottie Scheffler does now.

“But don’t forget, the golfing year is long,” Woods said. “So there’s other opportunities and other places around the world or other places to play that can be created and have events. So there’s a scarcity side of it that’s not as scary as people might think.”

Rolapp also soothed some concerns about a star-driven tour when he said on the CNBC “CEO Council Forum” last week, “Every sport has stars. What really makes sports work is the middle class. … You cannot build a lifelong sport that outlives the stars if you don’t build a system that works beyond your stars.”

There was nothing middle class about Woods.

His legacy will be 82 titles on the PGA Tour, his 15 majors, the only player to hold all four major championships at the same time, the player who went more than seven years without missing a cut. And now, his leadership on a committee to reshape the PGA Tour could add to that.

Woods is motivated to play again because he simply loves golf.