Take all the recovery time you need, Tiger Woods.

For a player who’s done so much for the game of golf, he deserves all the time he needs.

Woods announced Tuesday he suffered another injury and will not play the rest of the season. This time it’s a ruptured left Achilles tendon that occurred while Woods was training to play this year’s Masters.

“It sucks,” Rory McIlroy said during his press conference before The Players Championship.

That sums it up well, Rory.

Woods, who turned 49 last December, made golf what it is today. He is the reason many people picked up a golf club. He made it cool. He is an icon and one of or the best golfer in history. He won 15 majors and 82 titles on the PGA Tour as well as several USGA amateur titles.

In the last five years, it was bigger news when he was going to play competitively. Before this current injury, the last time Woods played on the PGA Tour was the Open Championship last July when he missed the cut.

“We obviously won’t see him play golf this year, and hopefully we [will] see him maybe play in 2026,” McIlroy said. “He’ll try. I know he’ll try. But that’s a question for him, not for me. I obviously don’t know what’s in his head, but judging by prior behavior, he’ll definitely try.”

But does Woods need to come back again?

He has already done it so many times and had success. He won the 2008 U.S. Open on a broken leg. He’s had six surgeries on his lower back. He had a long recovery after suffering serious injuries to his right leg, foot and ankle in a February 2021 car crash. He has only finished 72 holes in an event twice since that accident.

Despite all the injuries and never really being in contention, Woods is still a must-see event. If there were featured groups for an event, Woods was in it even with many knowing he wouldn’t be close to the top of the leaderboard.

He kept coming back. Anyone following Woods knows he will try and come back again.

But he doesn’t need to. Woods has put golf in the state it is in today. Even though there are plenty of complaints about the state of professional golf, the game is in a good place.

Tiger’s work here is done.

Woods will always be part of the majors, especially the Masters, which he won five times. He is exempt for life at The Masters and PGA Championship. He can play the Open Championship for 10 more years. His 15 major wins are second to Jack Nicklaus’ 18, a record that many thought Woods would break.

“If he’d have been healthy, I think he would have got it,” Nicklaus said in an interview two weeks ago with Golf Channel. “But he didn’t remain healthy. We all have injuries; we all have different things that change things. Tiger had his problems. I feel bad for him.”

Fans realize that while it will be a moment when Woods is on the course, the days of him stalking the leaderboard are over. As the ratings for TGL have shown, people still love to watch Woods.

The impact of Woods will always be there. The 1997 Masters; the dominant run in 2000; the not-talked-about-enough 2005-08 time frame where he won six majors; and the emotional 2019 Masters are all unforgettable.

Fans want to see Woods, but it is wait and see now.

“Tiger owes us nothing,” CBS Sports’ Jason Sobel said on the Fairway Rollin’ podcast. “I hope Tiger gets a chance to do whatever it is he wants to do moving forward.”

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CU Buffs finish second in San Diego

The Colorado men’s golf team recorded its fourth second-place finish this season on Wednesday as the Buffaloes tied for the runner-up spot in San Diego’s R.E. Lamkin Invitational.

Three Buffaloes finished in the top 10 for the 31st time in school history and for the second time this season. A trio placed in the top 10 in the fall when CU won the New Mexico Tucker Invitational.

This was Colorado’s sixth top-three finish in seven tournaments in 2024-25, tying the school-best, which had been done during the 1980-81 and 2022-23 seasons.

Seniors Justin Biwer and Dylan McDermott tied for sixth after finishing with 2-under 70s in the final round on the 7,033-yard, par-72 San Diego Country Club course. They finished at 9-under for the tournament.

Junior Hunter Swanson tied for ninth with an even-par 72 for an 8-under 208 score.

“The guys battled today despite not having our best stuff, which is something that is so, so important to do,” coach Roy Edwards said. “We had really strong events from Justin, Dylan and Hunter. “

The Buffs are off for the next two weeks before returning to action in Stanford’s The Goodwin on March 28-30.

Colorado State was also part of the field in San Diego and finished in a tie for sixth as a team. Matthew Wilkinson took 16th place with a three-round total of 5-under.

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What they’re saying

“I think (pace-of-play information) should be released. I don’t know why you wouldn’t want it to be released.”

—Collin Morikawa after it was announced Tuesday the PGA Tour will start publishing pace-of-play stats

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Skins game

Odds to win The Players Championship

Scottie Scheffler +400

Rory McIlroy +1100

Collin Morikawa +1400

Ludvig Aberg +1800

Justin Thomas +2200

Xander Schauffele +2500

Wyndham Clark +6000

Mark Hubbard +50000

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This week in golf

PGA Tour

THE PLAYERS CHAMPIONSHIP

Site: Ponte Vedra Beach, Fla.

Course: TPC Sawgrass (Stadium). Yardage: 7,352. Par: 72.

Prize money: $25 million. Winner’s share: $4.5 million.

Television: Thursday-Friday, 11 a.m.-5 p.m. (Golf Channel); Saturday, Noon-5 p.m. (NBC); Sunday, 11 a.m.-4 p.m. (NBC).

Defending champion: Scottie Scheffler.

LIV Golf League

LIV GOLF SINGAPORE

Site: Singapore.

Course: Sentosa GC (Serapong). Yardage: 7,406. Par: 71.

Prize money: $20 million. Winner’s share: $4 million.

Television: Thursday, 7-10 p.m. (FS app), 10 p.m.-Midnight (FS1); Friday, 7-9 p.m. (FS2), 9 p.m.-Midnight (FS1); Saturday, 7-8:30 p.m. (FS2), 8:30 p.m.-Midnight (FS1).

Defending champion: Brooks Koepka.

***

FedEx Cup standings

                      Points Money

1. Sepp Straka 1,200 $3,721,024

2. Russell Henley 1,194 $5,480,025

3. Ludvig Aberg 1,018 $4,956,223

4. Hideki Matsuyama 949 $4,286,802

5. Collin Morikawa 916 $4,902,714

5. Nick Taylor 807 $2,517,264

6. Thomas Detry 843 $2,650,885

7. Rory McIlroy 836 $3,870,714

8. Michael Kim 823 $2,677,869

10. Joe Highsmith 548 $1,774,406

10. Shane Lowry 703 $3,126,986

11. Corey Conners 664 $2,363,056

12. Maverick McNealy 664 $3,114,102

13. Scottie Scheffler 635 $2,255,447

14. Justin Thomas 617 $2,038,300

15. J.J. Spaun 559 $1,730,472

16. Sungjae Im 557 $1,898,292

17. Harris English 553 $1,899,468

19. Keegan Bradley 517 $1,653,569

20. Brian Campbell 514 $1,304,837

21. Daniel Berger 513 $1,447,341

22. Justin Rose 513 $1,760,667

23. Patrick Rodgers 498 $1,574,659

24. Jason Day 485 $1,672,947

25. Patrick Cantlay 471 $1,467,400

26. Denny McCarthy 445 $1,134,530

27. Cameron Davis 440 $1,290,400

28. Sam Stevens 430 $1,481,100

29. Tony Finau 430 $1,397,000

30. Lucas Glover 425 $1,366,088

31. Andrew Novak 406 $1,394,450

32. Tommy Fleetwood 403 $1,346,023

33. Ben Griffin 391 $1,160,179

34. Jacob Bridgeman 379 $937,229

35. Taylor Pendrith 366 $1,323,132

36. Jhonattan Vegas 359 $1,096,020

37. Nicolas Echavarria 356 $1,208,050

38. Aldrich Potgieter 346 $895,732

39. Aaron Rai 340 $769,875

40. Akshay Bhatia 320 $1,091,394

40. Kevin Velo 9 $0

41. Karl Vilips 319 $56,140

42. Stephan Jaeger 314 $986,425

43. Robert Macintyre 293 $689,262

44. Si Woo Kim 287 $859,169

45. Tom Hoge 284 $971,618

46. Harry Hall 281 $902,704

47. Sam Burns 279 $953,356

48. Max Greyserman 278 $861,211

49. Alex Smalley 272 $749,512

50. Christiaan Bezuidenhout 191 $676,955