March 26, 2026, 10:56 p.m. ET
- Woods is making every effort to compete at Augusta National following recent injuries and surgery.
- The golfer recently competed in a TGL match, his first event since the 2024 British Open.
- Trump and Woods have a history that includes playing golf together and Trump awarding Woods the Presidential Medal of Freedom.
While Tiger Woods makes every effort to play in the Masters, President Donald Trump believes he already knows the 15-time major champion will not be teeing it up at Augusta National in two weeks.
Trump was asked March 26 on Fox News who he believed would win the season’s first major and he answered it by saying Woods would not be playing.
“I love Tiger, but he won’t be there,” Trump said. “Well, he’ll be there, but he won’t be playing in it.”
Woods, who lives in Jupiter Island, is dating Vanessa Trump, the ex-wife of the president’s son, Donald Trump Jr.
Trump, who lives in Palm Beach, has played golf with Woods and awarded Woods the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the nation’s highest civilian honor, after Woods’ 2019 Masters victory.
Woods, 50, played in his first TGL match March 24, hoping to help his Jupiter Links team extend its season. Jupiter, trailing 0-1 in the best-of-3 TGL Finals, lost to Los Angeles Golf Club, which won its first title.
Woods had disc replacement surgery Oct. 10, which came seven months after rupturing his left Achilles tendon. After taking just nine shots in Jupiter’s loss to LA, four of those putts, he sounds very much like he’s hopes to play the Masters, which would be his first PGA Tour event since the 2024 British Open. He said he is doing everything he can to be in the field.
“As I said, I’ve been trying,” he said. “Just this body is … it doesn’t recover like it did when it was 24, 25. It doesn’t mean I’m not trying. I’ve been trying for a while. I’ve had a couple bad injuries here over the past years that I’ve had to fight through and it’s taken some time.
“But I keep trying. I want to play. I love the tournament.”
Trump declined to pick a winner for the Masters, which starts April 9.
“They’re just great players,” Trump said. “It’s hard for me. If I pick somebody, I’m going to have enemies, I’m going to have 10 guys who won’t speak to me.”
