Tiger Woods PGA Championship absence explained as full list of stars set to miss out
There will be no Tiger Woods at Oak Hill Country Club for the second Major of the season this week, but he’s not the only big star missing.
Tiger Woods fans have been left disappointed after the 15-time Major winner was forced to withdraw from this week’s USA PGA Championship. But he is not the only household name who will be missing from the leaderboard when the second Major of the season gets underway on Thursday. Woods has only appeared in three events all season and was forced to withdraw from last month’s US Masters at Augusta National with an ankle injury.
The 47-year-old has won the US PGA Championship on four previous occasions but will be denied the chance to attempt a fifth after he underwent surgery to address post-traumatic arthritis.
The specialist surgery could keep him out of action for as long as six months, with a Royal Liverpool Open appearance now also in serious doubt. But if the absence of Woods is a blow to golf fans and the event organisers, the omission of several other star names is an even bigger disappointment.
Crowd favourite Sergio Garcia will be missing from the field for only the second time in 24 years. Remarkably, the Spaniard played in 84 straight Majors from 1999-2020 only missing out on the US Masters at the end of his run due to a positive COVID-19 test.
But having ditched the PGA Tour for the breakaway LIV Golf Tour, he has tumbled down to 189th in the DP World Rankings and will not appear at Oak Hill this week.
