Tiger Woods made it official on Friday when he committed to the Safeway Open, the first event of the 2016-17 PGA Tour season, next week at Silverado Resort and Spa in Napa, Calif.
Woods announced on his website on Sept. 7 that he hoped to play in the tournament, which will be his first in more 14 months because of back problems, and he had until 6 p.m. EDT on Friday to commit.
The Golf Channel has been saying for the last few weeks that Woods would play in spots promoting the Safeway Open, but there were reports that tournament officials were getting nervous as the deadline approached and there was no word from Tiger.
“He’s planning to play in the tournament,” Jeff Sanders, executive director of the Safeway Open, said on Thursday morning. “As you see on the Golf Channel, they are advertising his return, and we are doing the same, and we are counting on him playing.
” … Everyone is moving forward as if he’s playing because that’s what we think is happening.”
Sanders said he had been in contact with Woods’ business manager Mark Steinberg, but would not give any details.
The 40-year-old Woods last played in the 2015 Wyndham Championship, in which he tied for 10th, but underwent two back procedures since.
Tiger, who grew up in Cypress in Southern California and played at Stanford, has claimed 14 of his 79 PGA Tour titles in his California, the last in 2013 when he won the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines for a record seventh time.
When Woods announced his planned comeback next month, he also said he wound play in the Turkish Airlines Open on Nov. 3-6 and the Hero World Challenge, which benefits the Tiger Woods Foundation, on Dec. 2-4 in the Bahamas.
