It's official: Tiger Woods to play Masters

Tiger Woods said Friday afternoon he will be competing next week in Augusta. The four-time Masters champion is returning to the first major after missing last year following back surgery.

The 39-year-old Woods played in two PGA Tour events in February. At the Phoenix Open, he struggled with his short game en route to rounds of 73-82 to miss the cut. The following week, he withdrew from the Farmers Insurance Open after 11 holes because of a back injury.

Woods, a 14-time major champion, is seeking his first Masters victory since 2005. He last won a major championship in 2008 at the U.S. Open.

At 3:20 p.m. on Friday after his second pre-Masters scouting trip to Augusta in a week, Tiger Woods officially decided to play in next week’s Masters Tournament.

“I’m playing in the Masters,” Woods announced on his website. “It’s obviously very important to me, and I want to be there.

“I’ve worked a lot on my game and I’m looking forward to competing. I’m excited to get to Augusta and I appreciate everyone’s support.”

Woods made a pair of visits to Augusta National Golf Club on Tuesday and Friday to test his game before committing to end his two-month leave of absence and play for the first time since withdrawing after 11 holes in the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines on Feb. 5.

Woods’ jet could be seen again at Augusta Regional Airport on Friday morning and the Golf Channel reported he was at Augusta National hitting balls on the tournament practice facility.

He played 18 holes at Augusta National on Tuesday, according to his agent Mark Steinberg. Golfweek reported that Woods shot a 2-over-par 74 that included five birdies and “hit several indifferent chips, including one that went through the green and into a bunker.”

Woods hasn’t won the Masters since his fourth victory at Augusta National in 2005, and he hasn’t played in the season’s first major championship since 2013. He missed last year’s Masters for the first time in 20 years after undergoing microdisectomy surgery on his back at the end of March.

Injuries and poor play have left Woods outside of the top 100 in the world for the first time since the week before he won the first of his 79 PGA Tour events at the 1996 Las Vegas Invitational. Woods fell to No. 104 in the Official World Golf Rankings this week.

Woods hasn’t played competitively since withdrawing after 11 holes in the first round of the Farmers Insurance Open at Torrey Pines on Feb. 5. He announced the next week that he was taking an indefinite leave to work on the flaws in his short game and said he would return when his game was tournament ready.

When he announced that he would not play the Arnold Palmer Invitational three weeks ago at Bay Hill, where he’s won eight times, Woods said that he would continue working hard in hopes of returning for the Masters.