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Tiger Woods to Miss Honda Classic

Tiger Woods won’t be in the field for this week’s Honda Classic at the PGA National after a rejigging his schedule ahead of the first major of the year.

With the 14-time major winner’s focus this season being on adding to that haul of successes, Woods has always said his schedule would be geared towards peaking at the Masters at Augusta from April 11-14.

The former world number one had initially been pencilled in to play the Honda Classic, but after finishing 10th in the WGC-Mexico Championship, he has decided to have a week off that will best serve his body.

Woods will miss the Honda Classic at PGA National, hosted by Jack Nicklaus’ Children’s Health Care Foundation, before playing the Arnold Palmer Invitational at Bay Hill and the Players International at TPC Sawgrass in the build up to the Masters.

Woods tweeted: “Unfortunately, due to the schedule this year, I cannot play all the events I want to. I will be taking next week off and playing in the @APinv and @THEPLAYERSChamp. Sorry to miss seeing Jack and everyone at Honda.”

Woods has so far appeared in three PGA Tour tournaments in 2019, finishing 20th in the Farmers Insurance Open in late January before posting 15th and 10th place finishes in the Genesis Open and WGC-Mexico Championship.

The Genesis Open and WGC-Mexico Championship took place over consecutive weekends and that, coupled with the travel, was the big reason behind Woods’ decision to miss the Honda Classic, which would have been three tournaments in as many weeks.

The Arnold Palmer Invitational (March 7-10) and The Players Championship (March 14-17) take place in successive weeks, meaning Woods would have played in five straight weekends had he not chosen to miss the Honda Classic.

The Honda Classic is actually one of the few tournaments not to feature among Woods’ 80 PGA Tour wins with his best finish being runner-up to Rory McIlroy in 2012. He missed the cut as an amateur in 2001 prior to that and subsequently ended T37 in 2013, withdrew in 2014 and was 12th last year in his early comeback from injury.

On the flip side, Woods has enjoyed much success in both the Arnold Palmer Invitational and the Players Championship with 10 of his career wins coming in the two events.

Woods has won the Arnold Palmer Invitational on eight occasions (four in a row between 2000-2003 and back-to-back twice in 2008 and 2009 and then again in 2012 and 2013), while his two Players Championship victories came 12 years apart having won at Sawgrass in 2001 and 2013.

Woods, who was twice in the frame in 2018 to add to his 14 major victories, had previously stated what his 2019 focus would be on, saying: “What I did in the last two major championships, I gave myself a chance to win both of them and I was right there.

“That’s ultimately what we want to have happen. Now it’s about trying to get everything to peak together like I did for those two weeks to do it again four more times. That’s the trick. Fortunately, I was able to do it 14 times and hopefully more in the future.”

See also: Tiger Woods Wins Again