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Tiger Woods won’t play any 2026 majors. Is this the end of his golf career?

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Nobody wants to say it out loud. But the question is getting harder to ignore.

Tiger Woods has not played in a major championship since the 2024 Open Championship at Royal Troon, where he missed the cut. He will not play in the 2026 U.S. Open at Shinnecock Hills. He did not submit an entry for the 2026 Open Championship at Royal Birkdale before last week’s deadline, according to Sports Illustrated.

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That is eight consecutive majors without the 15-time champion in the field. And counting.

The official word is that Woods, 50, remains focused on his recovery following his March arrest on suspicion of DUI after a single-car rollover near his Jupiter Island, Florida, home.

His distance from golf’s crown jewels, however, is growing.

Woods missed all of the 2025 season after rupturing his Achilles just before the Masters. He then had his seventh back surgery, a lumbar disc replacement, in October. He spent months quietly working his way back. Three days before it all fell apart, he was competing in the TGL championship in Palm Beach Gardens, his girlfriend Vanessa Trump and her daughter Kai cheering from the ropes. It looked like the beginning of yet another comeback chapter in his legendary story.

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Vanessa Trump diagnosis – See Tiger Woods’ girlfriend, mom to Kai, Donald Trump III

Vanessa Trump announced she has been diagnosed with breast cancer, sharing a personal update on Instagram May 20, 2026, that she recently underwent a procedure and is now working with her doctors on a treatment plan.

See the former model and ex daughter-in-law of the president in photos, starting here with daughter Kai Trump during a TGL match against New York Golf Club at SoFi Center on Jan. 13, 2026, in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida.

(GREG LOVETT/PALM BEACH POST)

Then, on March 27, his Land Rover clipped a truck on a residential road in Jupiter Island and rolled onto its side. He crawled out through the passenger window. Nobody was seriously hurt. He blew zero on the breathalyzer but refused a urine test, failed a field sobriety test and had two hydrocodone pills in his pocket. He was charged with DUI with property damage and refusal to submit to a lawful test. It was he second DUI arrest.

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In 2017, he was found asleep behind the wheel, later pleaded guilty to reckless driving. His driver’s license is now suspended.

This time, he has pleaded not guilty and demanded a jury trial. A judge has since granted prosecutors access to his prescription records from a Palm Beach pharmacy going back to Jan. 1. The case is expected to take six to nine months to play out.

Four days after the crash, he posted a statement. “I am stepping away for a period of time to seek treatment and focus on my health.”

He went to Switzerland for more than six weeks. According to People, he came back to Florida specifically to attend Kai Trump’s high school graduation and support Vanessa, who recently announced her breast cancer diagnosis, before reportedly returning to treatment.

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USGA CEO Mike Whan told Sports Illustrated he’d be “super surprised” if Woods played any USGA event in 2026.

The door isn’t completely closed, though.

Woods still holds permanent exemptions to the Masters and PGA Championship as a past winner. His Open Championship exemption runs until he turns 60.

He’s beaten back this conversation before. After the brutal 2021 crash that shattered his leg, the smart money said he was done. He won the 2019 Masters after years of personal scandal and multiple back surgeries. Nobody who has watched his career over the last 30 years will say out loud that this is the end.

But the question is still hanging over him and the game.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Tiger Woods missing Open Championship, US Open: Is his career over?



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