It does not come as a shock, but more a jolt of hard reality.
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For the second straight year, the man whose 15 major victories are second only to Jack Nicklaus’ 18 will miss all four of the season’s major championships. As reported by Sports Illustrated on Tuesday, Tiger Woods has not entered July’s Open Championship at Royal Birkdale, and with no exemption into next month’s U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills, the 50-year-old will be absent from the game’s biggest events this summer.
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Woods also missed all of the majors last year while recovering after suffering a ruptured Achilles tendon in March 2025.
Woods had disc replacement back surgery last October and seemed to leave a slight opening for possibly playing in April’s Masters. But on March 27, he was involved in a car accident near his home in Jupiter, Fla., and arrested on the scene for driving under the influence, failing a sobriety test and refusing to take a urine test. There were also two hydrocodone pills in his pocket.
Woods has pleaded not guilty to driving under the influence with property damage and refusal to submit to a lawful test. On May 12, a judge overseeing the case ruled that prosecutors could get access to the golfer’s medication records. Woods’ lawyers had argued for a protective order, asserting that the golfer’s medications records should not be open to the public. The judge did approve a protective order that restricted access to the records.
On March 31, Woods announced he would step away to “seek treatment and focus on my health.” Then on April 1, a Martin (Fla.) County court judge granted a motion for Woods to travel to Switzerland for treatment away from media and public scrutiny.
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Woods then traveled to Switzerland and was there until reports surfaced last week that he returned to Florida. It has been speculated that he came back to support his girlfriend, Vanessa Trump, the ex-daughter-in-law of President Donald Trump.
On Saturday, flight trackers reported that Woods’ plane had returned to Switzerland—ostensibly to resume what has been reported to be three months of treatment.
The winner of 82 PGA Tour titles, Woods is approaching two years of not playing official competitive golf. His last tournament was he 2024 Open Championship at Troon, where he missed the cut. Prior to that, he’d played four times that season—withdrawing from the Genesis Invitational due to illness, finishing 60th in the Masters, and missing the cut in both the PGA Championship and U.S. Open. He is now more than five years removed from his last major victory—an improbable and revered triumph, at the age of 45, in the 2019 Masters.
The Masters, with its lifetime exemption for winners (as long as they can be competitive), and the Open Championship (champions exempt until 60) are the only majors for which Woods still holds future status.
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Sports Illustrated also reported that Phil Mickelson has submitted an entry into the Open Championship. The 55-year-old won the claret jug in 2013 at Muirfield and has competed in 31 of the past 32 Opens. He has, however, played only one tournament on LIV Golf this season and didn’t play in the Masters and PGA Championship while citing “family health issues.” Mickelson was not exempt for the U.S. Open and did not attempt to qualify.
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