Former Open champion Mark Calcavecchia has called on the PGA Tour and Champions Tour to allow Tiger Woods to compete on the senior circuit a year early.

Woods will be eligible to enter events on the Champions Tour when he turns 50 this December. And a fellow major winner – who is already playing his golf on the 54-hole tour – in Calcavecchia believes the circuit should alter their rules in order to get Woods involved.

“Ok, @TigerWoods is 49 now. That’s close enough,” veteran star Calcavecchia tweeted on X on Friday. “Let him play now I say. @ChampionsTour. Let’s go, Tiger!!”

What is more, Calcavecchia believes that arguably golf’s greatest player could break the Champions Tour’s all-time wins record of 48 in consecutive events.” As of now u only need 48 wins to be the best in senior golf,” he added. “U might need to win 48 straight. Wouldn’t put it past u tho.”

Woods has never officially confirmed whether he will play on the senior circuit when the time comes, but injury issues in recent years may mean it is his best chance of prolonging his playing career. The 82-time PGA Tour winner has been forced to adapt a part-time schedule due to his problems with fitness.

In 2024, Woods played just five competitive events on the PGA Tour, including just one outside of the four major championships, where he was forced to withdraw from the Genesis Invitational due to illness in the second round. Of those five events, Woods played 72 holes just once.

His only made cut came at the Masters last April before he failed to make the weekend at the PGA Championship, U.S. Open, and Open Championship. Woods was expected to tee it up at the Hero World Challenge last month but was forced to withdraw in the build-up due to a lack of fitness.

Follow us on Xfor the best and latest in sports news

Tiger Woods of the United States looks on during the pro-am prior to the PNC Championship at Ritz-Carlton Golf Club on December 20, 2024 in Orlando, Florida.

Tiger Woods missed the Hero World Challenge ( 

Image:

Getty Images)

The 49-year-old was on site in the Bahamas as tournament host and explained where his fitness was up to heading into the New Year. “I’m not tournament sharp yet, no. I’m still not there. These are 20 of the best players in the world and I’m not sharp enough to compete against them at this level,” he said in December.

“So when I’m ready to compete and play at this level, then I will.” Opening up on a recent back problem he underwent surgery for in September, he added: “I didn’t think my back was going to go like it did this year. It was quite painful throughout the end of the year and hence I had another procedure done to to alleviate the pain I had going down my leg.

“So whether my commitment going forward is once a month, yeah, I could say that all over again, but I truly don’t know. I’m just trying to rehab and still get stronger and better and feel better, really give myself the best chance I can going into next year. This year was kind of — I had to toss it away and I wasn’t as sharp as I needed to be and I didn’t play as much as I needed to going into the major championships and I didn’t play well at them.

“Hopefully next year will be better, I’ll be physically stronger and better. I know the procedure helped and hopefully I can then build upon that.” Woods did manage to tee it up in the parent-child event at the PNC Championship in late December, finishing second alongside son Charlie after losing out to Team Langer in a playoff.