The first swing after the nightmare: Tiger Woods is finally back on the driving range

It was just a three-second video of a man hitting a golf ball. When the man is Tiger Woods, it is the biggest golf news of the year.

Details: Tiger Woods has returned to the driving range for the first time since his car crash in March. The PGA Tour shared the footage, noting that his last competitive start dates back to July 2024. Woods himself said he can hit pretty much anything again, though a comeback timeline remains unclear.

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The road to this unremarkable-looking swing was anything but. In March, Woods was involved in a two-vehicle crash on Jupiter Island, Florida, and subsequently arrested, a legal saga he closed only last week with a plea deal that included a five-year driving suspension. Physically, the years had already been brutal even before the accident: a ruptured Achilles in March 2025 and back surgery last October kept the 15-time major champion off the course entirely, with his last PGA Tour appearance now more than two years in the past. Yet the timing of this video feels deliberate. Woods has recently resumed his powerful seat on the PGA Tour's policy board, helping launch the two-tier structure that debuts in 2028, a competition he has two seasons to qualify for, and has repeatedly insisted he still wants to play. One range session is not a comeback, but for a golfer whose career has survived more resurrections than anyone thought possible, it is the image the entire sport was waiting for.

It's worth noting that Woods famously won the 2019 Masters after four back surgeries, completing what many consider the greatest comeback in the history of golf.

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