Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy both questionable for crunch TGL Playoffs match

Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy could both miss their teams’ semi-final clash in the TGL Playoffs this week, leaving fans to wonder how much star power will be on display in the league’s inaugural season.

The Boston Common Golf vs. Jupiter Links GC semi-final is scheduled for Tuesday 17 March at 9 p.m. ET at the SoFi Center in Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. The earlier semi-final at 6:30 p.m. features defending champions Atlanta Drive battle Los Angeles Golf Club.

Woods, who owns Jupiter Links GC, has not played this season while recovering from back surgery — the seventh of his career — performed in October 2025. 

The 15-time major champion has walked alongside his Jupiter Links teammates at recent TGL matches, but not been able to play. 

Woods has not competed in an official Tour event since missing the cut at The Open Championship at Royal Troon in July 2024. 

Yet the 50-year-old has kept fans guessing about a potential return, especially at The Masters after his private jet was spotted in town. 

While hosting the Genesis Invitational last month, Woods admitted that playing at Augusta National was “not off the table.”

As for potentially appearing for Jupiter Links in their crunch semi-final Playoffs match against McIlroy's Boston Common this Tuesday night, that is still something that remains uncertain as Woods continues to get back to full fitness. 

McIlroy's status also sounds questionable, at least after what he told reporters when closing with a 71 to finish well down the leaderboard at The Players Championship on Sunday. 

The grand slam champion has been dealing with back pain the past week. 

McIlroy noted that while his body “held up well”, his scores didn’t fully reflect his progress at TPC Sawgrass. 

“Happy to come through four rounds and feel like my body held up,” McIlroy said. 

“A couple little things to work on, but overall, not the week I wanted. Just trying to take the positives.”

As for teeing it up in the TGL Playoffs on Tuesday, McIlroy said: “We'll see. Yeah, geez, I haven’t even… yeah, we’ll see.”

Boston Common Golf’s 2026 roster features McIlroy as captain, alongside Keegan Bradley, Hideki Matsuyama and Adam Scott, with rising PGA Tour star Michael Thorbjornsen serving as a key designated alternate. 

Jupiter Links GC’s roster includes Woods, Max Homa, Tom Kim and Kevin Kisner, with Akshay Bhatia as the team’s alternate. 

The TGL’s tech-forward format is now in its second season, and it blends elite PGA Tour talent in a unique indoor league setting.

Official TGL semi-final lineups will be revealed on Monday, with the best-of-three finals starting on 23 March.