Tiger Woods hosts the Hero World Challenge, a competitive event with a small field that attracts the best Bamahas players, every December.
Tiger Woods revealed the 19 players that will compete in the tournament he is hosting in 2023 on Monday.
Beginning on November 30 at the Albany Golf Course in the Bahamas, this competition has a small field. The last round will be on Sunday, December 3.
Eight of the top ten golfers in the world, including world number one Scottie Scheffler and Norway’s Viktor Hovland, who is now rated fourth in the world, will take the tee.
Hovland, the reigning champion, will arrive in the Bahamas.
Rory McIlroy and Jon Rahm, the second and third-ranked players in the world, are conspicuously missing from the player list that was made public on Monday.
The exclusion of McIlroy surprises me given how close he is to Woods. The TGL Golf League will begin six weeks after the 2023 Hero World Challenge thanks to the close friendship between the two top golfers.
The Northern Irishman nevertheless skipped the 2022 competition as well.
It’s somewhat astonishing that Rahm isn’t playing. The Spaniard won the 2023 Masters in addition to three PGA Tour victories this year. Three times before, he participated in the Hero World Challenge, taking first place in 2019 and coming in sole second in 2020. Last year at the Bahamas, he tied for sixth.
Keeping this in mind, it is important to point out that McIlroy and Rahm have committed to competing in the DP World Tour Championship, which will take place at the Jumeirah Golf Estates in Dubai from November 16–19.
Maybe these two major winners want to take some time to recover before the 2024 PGA Tour season gets underway in January at The Sentry in Maui. The previous year, Rahm came out on top.
However, Woods left one sponsor’s exemption open on purpose.
Rahm or McIlroy might decide to play at the last minute.
Or, Woods might feel well enough to compete on his own.
Since having to retire from the Masters in April 2023 due to an escalating foot issue, the 15-time major champion has not competed. A week later, he underwent surgery on his ankle.
The entire field of participants follows below:
- Jordan Spieth
- Cameron Young
- Keegan Bradley
- Collin Morikawa
- Tony Finau
- Sam Burns
- Jason Day
- Sepp Straka
- Will Zalatoris
- Rickie Fowler
- Justin Thomas
- Patrick Cantlay
- Xander Schauffele
- Max Homa
- Matt Fitzpatrick
- Brian Harman
- Wyndham Clark
- cottie Scheffler
- TBD
- Viktor Hovland
- Patrick Cantlay
Zalatoris had back surgery in the spring and hasn’t participated in any PGA Tour events since pulling out of the Masters in April.Since then, he has been sidelined.
In the meanwhile, the U.S. Ryder Cup team will compete in the Bahamas with 11 of its 12 players. LIV Golf player Brooks Koepka was not given an invitation.
The first and second rounds of the 2023 Hero World Challenge will be shown on Golf Channel, while the third and fourth rounds will be broadcast on NBC.
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