Tiger Woods back in Tucson playing in the ’27 Cologuard Classic? Yes, please | Michael Lev

To which I say: Yes! Hell yeah!! Let’s freaking go!!!

Can you imagine what next year’s Cologuard Classic would be like if Tiger were part of it? La Paloma Country Club would be overflowing. The grounds would be buzzing. It would be the sporting event of the year in Tucson.

Tiger Woods might be the only singular force that could divert Tucsonans’ attention from March Madness, which, unfortunately, coincides with this year’s Cologuard Classic. (Mother Nature, alas, isn’t doing the tournament any favors either.)

“Anytime Tiger drops a hint about coming out here, yeah, that's exciting,” Miller Brady, president of the PGA Tour Champions, told me earlier this week. “We just don't know when that is. We don't know exactly when he's going to be healthy enough to come out and play. When he does, we're going to be over the moon.”

Tiger’s health is the rub. It’s been that way for years. The greatest golfer of our time has had a litany of injuries. He might try to play the Masters. He hasn’t appeared in a PGA Tour event since The Open Championship in July 2024.

To which I say: Get well soon, Tiger. Keep grinding. Are you familiar with the healing powers of the desert?

More of everything

Every Champions Tour player I talked to this week said they’d love it if Tiger, who turned 50 on Dec. 30, could join them. It’d be a rising-tide-lifts-all-boats situation: more attention for the Tour and important causes such as colon cancer screening.

“It would be huge,” said Jerry Kelly, longtime Champions Tour pro and Cologuard ambassador. “I would love to be able to get Tiger to Tucson. That would be a ton of fun.”

The last time Tiger played here? The snow-delayed 2013 WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship at Dove Mountain. Charles Howell III played the role of Cinderella that week, beating No. 1 seed Woods as a 16-seed. (There were, in fact, two 16-over-1 upsets that year as Shane Lowery defeated good buddy Rory McIlroy in the Bobby Jones bracket.)

Tiger won the last of his three Match Play titles at The Gallery in 2008. He was still at the peak of his powers then. But injuries were starting to take their toll. He had knee surgery in April of that year. After winning the '08 U.S. Open on, basically, one leg, Tiger needed reconstructive surgery for a damaged ACL. It was his 14th major championship. He wouldn’t win another until the 2019 Masters.

“Anywhere Tiger chooses to play, it would be a massive benefit for that place,” said Stewart Cink, the reigning Charles Schwab Cup winner — and the runner-up in the '08 WGC-Accenture Match Play Championship. Tiger beat him 8 and 7.

“We love Tiger (and would) love to see him play and be able to compete against him and with him again after all those years,” Cink continued.

“But mostly I just hope he's able to come out here and play. I do think he would really enjoy it. It's all the great parts of professional golf without any of the negative parts. You get to just play and compete and work on your game and try to see how good you can play and get a chance to win some.

“There's really no downside. It's a lot less stressful.”

Cink did acknowledge that Tiger would have “a little bit different experience” than his competitors because he’d have “a little bit more attention on him.”

To which I say: It’ll be a lot more. Which is a great thing for the Champions Tour. And nothing new for Mr. Tiger Woods.

“It's an X-factor,” Brady said. “It's gonna increase the attention, the television ratings, the attendance — every aspect.”

Cart before the course

Brady and the Tour will do anything and everything they can to accommodate Tiger. They just ask one favor: Give them more than a week’s notice if he plans to play. The deadline to officially enter an event is the preceding Friday.

“We want it to be a good experience for Tiger, no matter what,” Brady said. “What that means is that we have the right protocols in place, the right security, the right number of buses for spectators, the right size media center, concession stands — everything in place to make sure that it is the best experience possible for everyone involved.”

Zach Johnson turned 50 on Feb. 24, made his Champions Tour debut less than two weeks later and won the James Hardie Pro Football Hall of Fame Invitational. He didn’t want to speculate about Tiger’s debut — when or if it would happen. Johnson just wants Tiger to get to a place where he feels good again.

“He's a friend of mine, and I'm confident saying that a lot of us, if not all of us, want him back healthy,” Johnson said. “If it means he doesn't compete, we can embrace that. He's doing a lot for golf, a lot for the PGA Tour. That sounds cliché and kind of PC, but I cannot overstate that enough.”

“I would love to see him compete,” Johnson added. “I don't know what that looks like.”

We do know that the Champions Tour setup is conducive to Tiger’s particular situation. Most events are three rounds. Players are allowed to ride carts. They’re encouraged to do so at La Paloma because it’s so spread out.

To which I say: Let’s get Tiger the Rolls-Royce of golf carts. Let’s get him a chauffeur if he wants one. Let’s pimp that ride.

Even if Tiger were to play, say, a half-dozen events per year, Brady would consider that a win for the Champions Tour. He also thinks that once Tiger gets a taste of it, he’ll want a bigger bite.

Have you seen him on TGL? Tiger isn’t playing. But he’s as into it as the guys who are.

“He loves that camaraderie,” Brady said. “(They’re) high-fiving, they’re giving hugs, they're fist-bumping. Because at the end of the day, every one of these guys loves competing. That's why guys keep playing.”

There was surely a time in his life when Tiger wouldn’t have entertained the idea of playing on the 50-and-over tour. Now it might be the best avenue for him to rediscover his love of the game and reconnect with the friends he made along the way.

I can’t think of a better time and place than the 2027 Cologuard Classic in Tucson.

Whenever you’re ready, Tiger, we got you.