It was his back and not his extensively repaired right ankle, mangled in a 2021 auto accident, that was the biggest obstacle to success after he made his record 24th straight cut in the Masters in April. Perhaps somewhat predictably, the 15-time major winner remains cautiously optimistic as he rehabs and rebuilds his game. He’s not 100 percent just yet.

“Yeah, my leg is what it is. It’s still here, and it is what it is,” said Woods, who turns 49 years old on December 30. “But this year I struggled a lot with my back, and it’s a lot better, but I still have a long way to go.”

He knows all about the process. The most recent surgery was his sixth on his back. He’s undergone numerous knee operations. The ankle fusion surgery in 2023 was one of countless on his right leg. Somehow, he keeps mounting comebacks.

“Preparing for competitive play is different. That takes months. But it starts with each and every day,” he said. “You just do the little things correctly, and they add up. From the moment you get up, just do all the little things, the mundane, the things you know you have to do. It adds up, and it compounds over – you may not see it over a week or a day, but over months, it adds up.

“Unfortunately I’ve gone through this process a number of times. It’s frustrating. It’s hard. But I have an amazing team, amazing support. But I have to do the little things on a daily basis and away from everybody. It’s hard.”

Woods is playing in the PNC Championship for the fifth straight year with son Charlie. He decided to forego competing two weeks ago in the Hero World Challenge in the Bahamas, because he was not sharp enough yet for that level of competition. But a two-day scramble shouldn’t tax his body appreciably, especially in a scramble format. It sounded like he would be OK just letting Charlie do some of the heavy lifting.

“Hopefully I don’t have to hit many drivers,” he said. “So if he can move it out there, and I hit iron shots, he gets all the putts, and it’s a good backup.”

A second-place finish in 2021 marks the best finish for the Woods duo in the 20-team field. But improving on that will be a challenge. Then again, winning isn’t necessarily paramount this week. Yes, he actually said that.

“Yes, we want to win, but it’s about the bond. It’s about having the family,” said the man whose 82 tour titles is tied for the best in history. “It’s about us having a father-son moment together. Last year I had [daughter] Sam on the bag. It was her first time ever caddieing. This is a family event. You look at all the players and their families, their sons, their grandsons, grandfathers, this is what this tournament is about. It’s about family.”

It almost didn’t happen this year. He admits that his status was touch and go.

“Yeah, I had moments,” he said. “That was one of the reasons why I had the surgery done earlier, so that hopefully I could give myself the best chance to be with Charlie and be able to play. I’m not competitive right now, but I just want to be able to have the experience again. This has always been one of the bigger highlights of the year for us as a family, and now we get to have that moment together again.”