Tiger Woods yet to make PGA Championship decision

 

Whether Tiger Woods competes at the PGA Championship starting Thursday remains unclear, according to Bobby Nichols.

Nichols, the 1964 winner of the major, said Woods' team still had no answer as to whether the 38-year-old would be fit.

The 14-time major champion's troublesome back injury saw him withdraw from the WGC-Bridgestone Invitational during Sunday's final round.

Nichols said Woods and his team still had no idea if the veteran American would be healthy enough to compete at the Valhalla Golf Club in Kentucky.

Woods' agent Mark Steinberg told ESPN it was "way too early" to make a decision.

"We hope Tiger is well," Nichols told reporters on Monday.

"My son runs the Nike programme, and he and everybody on the staff hope he's OK enough to play because he'd be a big addition to the tournament and we just wish him well.

"Before I came in here I tried to find an answer, but they still don't have one."

Since Woods' return to the PGA Tour at the Quicken Loans National in June, he has missed a cut, finished 69th at The Open Championship to go with his withdrawal at Firestone.

Northern Irishman Rory McIlroy has starred in the meantime, rising to world number one on the back of his Open and WGC-Bridgestone Invitational wins.

Nichols said it was tough to pick a PGA Championship winner, but the 78-year-old has been impressed by McIlroy.

"It's hard to pick the winner because there's so many good players, but Rory evidently right now is really, really playing well, and scoring well," he said