Tiger Woods said that he’s “got a long way to go” before he can make a return to professional golf but insisted the “fire still burns to compete.”

Woods was speaking to reporters on Tuesday at the Hero World Challenge in the Bahamas, a tournament he hosts. The 48-year-old is not playing this week as he continues to recover from a back surgery he underwent in September.

The 15-time major winner has not played since The Open in July and the recent back problem continues Woods’ struggles with injuries, with the golf star saying that “the body just won’t recover like it used to.”

Tiger Woods says he’s ‘got a long way to go’ before being ready to return to competitive golf. Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images

“I’m not physically ready yet to compete at this level,” Woods said. “The times I have come back here, I was ready to start competing and playing again. Unfortunately, not this time. I still need to keep training to give myself the best chance going into next year and the events ahead.”

Woods said that as 2024 went on, his back “just kept progressively getting worse to the point where it just wasn’t getting better either from treatments or laying around resting.” He added that “nothing felt good and (an) MRI showed that.”

“I’m just progressively trying to test it, keep making progress without setting it off,” Woods said. “I don’t want to have any setbacks, just want to keep making progress and give myself the best chance going into next year as possible. I feel like I’m getting stronger, I’m getting more pliable, but I’ve got a long way to go to be able to compete against these guys.”

Woods has made 13 starts on the PGA Tour over the past four seasons and has completed a full four rounds just twice since suffering serious leg injuries in a car accident in 2021.

However, despite the setbacks, the US golfer reiterated his desire to continue competing professionally when he is physically able to, adding that “hopefully, next year will be better.”

“I’m not tournament sharp yet. I’m still not there,” he said. “These are 20 of the best players in the world and I’m not sharp enough to compete against them at this level. So when I’m ready to compete and play at this level, then I will.”

Woods has not played since The Open in July at Royal Troon. Ross Kinnaird/Getty Images

Woods also spoke about the reports suggesting US players at next year’s Ryder Cup will be paid for their participation in the event having historically not been so.

Woods says he believes players should get paid $5 million each and then that be donated to charity.

“I would have to say that, going back to my playing days, we had the same conversation back in ’99 and it was we didn’t want to get paid, we wanted to give more money to charity, and the media turned it around against us and said we want to get paid,” Woods explained.

“No, the Ryder Cup itself makes so much money, why can’t we allocate it to various charities? And what’s wrong with each player, 12 players getting a million dollars and the ability to divvy out to amazing charities that they’re involved in that they can help out? It’s their hometowns, where they’re from, all the different junior golf associations or endeavors that the members are involved in.

“It’s never really been about getting paid, it’s how can we allocate funds to help our sport or help things that we believe in back home because it’s so hard to get onto that team, there’s only 12 guys. What’s wrong with being able to allocate more funds?”