Tiger Woods Announces He Will Play Northern Trust After PGA Championship

Tiger Woods announced Friday that he will play in next week's The Northern Trust tournament at TPC Boston in Norton, Massachusetts:

The Northern Trust marks the start of the FedEx Cup Playoffs, and Woods will be one of 125 players in the field, with the top 70 in the standings then moving on to the BMW Championship. Woods is 48th in the FedEx Cup standings.

Woods is not playing in this week's Wyndham Championship after finishing 37th in last week's PGA Championship with a score of 1-under for the tournament.

Per Tim Schmitt of Golfweek, Woods previously suggested that he planned to play a packed schedule down the stretch this season:

"We knew once I started playing again when I committed to Memorial that this was going to be a heavy workload, and my training sessions, we've been pushing it pretty hard, making sure that I kept my strength and endurance up. We'll be pushing it hard to make sure that I can stay strong and have the endurance to keep on going."

The 44-year-old veteran has dealt with back injuries in recent years and undergone several surgeries. The injury still nags him at times, which is why managing his workload is of the utmost importance at this point in his career.

Woods is one of only two golfers to have won the FedEx Cup title twice, but he hasn't won it since 2009. He came close in 2018 by winning the season-ending Tour Championship, but he finished second in the overall standings, barely behind winner Justin Rose.

While winning the FedEx Cup is undoubtedly among Tiger's goals, he also wants to add to his career major title total of 15, which is three behind Jack Nicklaus for the all-time record.

Woods won the Masters last year in what was one of the all-time great comeback stories in golf history, as it was his first major championship since the 2008 U.S. Open.

Tiger hasn't finished better than 21st in the four majors he has played in since then, but with the 2020 Masters set for November, he may have a chance to win his sixth green jacket and 16th major title.

Also, the 2020 U.S. Open was rescheduled for September, and it will represent Woods' next chance to add to his major title total.

Staying healthy could be a challenge with so many tournaments on his schedule in the coming weeks and months, but competing consistently could be a positive in terms of ensuring Woods is in rhythm for the remaining majors.