With Charles Schwab Challenge proceeding, will Tiger Woods actually play Fort Worth?
The PGA Tour has set a date and now the question is whether they will all come to Fort Worth.
The Charles Schwab Challenge at Colonial Country Club is set to proceed without fans in attendance beginning on June 8, and the hope is the tournament will be a major-ish.
“A Major? I don’t know,” PGA Tour pro, and Colonial member, Ryan Palmer said on a conference call on Tuesday morning.
Killjoy.
“I do think it will be one of its best [at Colonial]. Guys will show up and and eager to play. Guys are going to want to be out there. The guys who [don’t] come are the same guys that don’t because they don’t like the course. The field is going to get better as more and more information comes out. You will see more and more of the top players commit to the event. You probably won’t see Tiger [Woods. Probably see Phil [Mickelson].”
Wah-wah.
This is not a 100 percent certainty, but Palmer is a PGA Tour pro. You never know, and there is always that chance, but Palmer is essentially bracing those who hope to watch Tiger on TV play Colonial for the first time since 1997 not to raise their hopes.
Tiger famously played Colonial in 1997, and while the rumors abound why he won’t return, even though he is 44 the chances of him coming back are simply slim. It was his one and only appearance at Colonial.
The course was always too short, and a bit tight, for his game. He has so much money, and so many wins, missing a plaid jacket from his trophy case likely does not motivate him the way it did when he was 21.
The reason to return now is because Tiger is like every other pro golfer who has not played in months. He wants to get out of the house and play a competitive round again.
Phil has played, and won, Colonial before.
Tiger taking a pass is not a slight at Colonial. The last time he played DFW was the AT&T Byron Nelson, in 2005.
That year, in what was a loaded field, many of whom played to say hello to Mr. Byron Nelson himself, Woods’ missed the cut, ending a PGA Tour record of 142 cuts made.
Woods has not returned to the play The Nelson. Mr. Nelson died in September of 2006, and as a result the quality of the field decreased.
What organizers at Colonial, CBS, The Golf Channel and the PGA Tour hope is that 2020 version of The Charles Schwab Challenge will be a stacked field, even if it does not include Tiger.
“It is great they have added 24 spots to give players more opportunities,” Palmer said of the field expanding to 144 spots. “I expect it’s going to be the best field Colonial has ever had.”
Tournament director Michael Tothe said players can begin the process of registering, and an updated list of the field will be available this week.
As of right now, there are no “big names” on the list, but that is thought to be a when rather than an if.
Rory McIlroy, Jon Rahm, Brooks Koepka, Justin Thomas, Dustin Johnson, Adam Scott, Patrick Reed, Patrick Cantlay, Webb Simpson, Tommy Fleetwood are the current top 10 players in the world.
It would be a surprise if all 10 appear in June in Fort Worth. Don’t be surprised when many of them do.
