Tiger Woods' playing schedule is a mystery. But here are his many options

Tiger Woods' playing schedule is a mystery. But here are his many options Alan Bastable Editor’s note: This article was published before reports of a car accident involving Tiger Woods on Friday afternoon. GOLF is monitoring that story .

Will Tiger Woods play the Masters? We still don’t know. Woods himself may not know.

President Trump has entered his prediction — that Woods will attend but won’t play — but we’ll continue a time-honored tradition of waiting and speculating in the meantime. To be clear, it will still be the Masters with or without Woods in the field. Scottie Scheffler will enter as pre-tournament favorite, Rory McIlroy will enter as high-profile defending champ, and an entire tier of talented challengers will enter in strong form, from Tommy Fleetwood to Cameron Young to Matt Fitzpatrick, Xander Schauffele, Ludvig Aberg and more.

All these tournaments will be played whether or not the Golfer in Red shows up to join them. But even a half-decade removed from his last trip to contention, Woods’ inclusion in any field means instant intrigue. There was some extra intrigue, then, when exemptions were released on Friday for the U.