Tiger Woods given special PGA Tour exemption for 'exceptional lifetime achievement'

Tiger Woods has been recognized for his "exceptional lifetime achievement" and will receive a special sponsor exemption for the PGA Tour's Signature Events going forward.

The sponsor exemption would make the 15-time major champion and 82-time PGA Tour winner automatically eligible for each of the Signature Events on the annual schedule.

"An additional sponsor exemption will be created to recognize Tiger Woods in his own category as a player who has reached an exceptional lifetime achievement threshold of 80 [plus] career wins," read the memo sent out on Tuesday.

Given Woods' limited schedule on the PGA Tour since his Feb. 2021 car accident, he would not be eligible to participate in any of the Signature Events

The Sentry, AT&T Pebble Beach Pro-Am, Genesis Invitational, Arnold Palmer Invitational, RBC Heritage, Wells Fargo Championship, Memorial Tournament and this week's Travelers Championship are the eight Signature Events on the 2024 PGA Tour schedule.

Each of the Signature Events features smaller fields, no cuts in five of the tournaments, FedEx Cup points, and increased prize money.

Woods, 48, has only played nine PGA Tour events since returning to competitive play at the 2022 Masters — all majors, outside of the Genesis Invitational, the event in which he hosts.

In February, Woods had to withdraw from the Genesis Invitational due to illness. He followed that up by a 60th-place finish at the Masters and missed the cut at both the PGA Championship and last week's U.S. Open.

Woods said he planned to play in next month's Open Championship at Royal Troon Golf Course in Scotland. Beyond that, he'll "come back whenever I come back."