COLUMBUS, Ohio _ Tiger Woods has won five professional tournaments at Muirfield Village Golf Club, but he won't return to one of his favorite courses on tour _ at least not this coming week.
The PGA Tour on Friday announced the field for the inaugural Workday Charity Open, the first of two consecutive tour events to be held at Muirfield Village, and Woods wasn't among them.
But the field for the Workday event does feature five golfers from the top 10 of the Official World Golf Ranking.
The group includes second-ranked Jon Rahm, fourth-ranked Justin Thomas, fifth-ranked Brooks Koepka, seventh-ranked Patrick Reed and ninth-ranked Patrick Cantlay, among other high-profile names entered.
Rickie Fowler, Phil Mickelson and Jordan Spieth also are slated to play, along with Ohio State graduate Ryan Armour and Westerville resident Jason Day.
The Workday event is replacing the John Deere Classic on the golf calendar after it was canceled in May due to coronavirus-related restrictions in Illinois.
The tournament to be held next Thursday through Sunday proceeds by one week the Memorial Tournament, which was rescheduled from early June.
Cantlay is the reigning winner of the Memorial.
No spectators will be at the Workday event, but a limited number will be permitted to attend the Memorial after a plan from tournament organizers was approved by Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine. Tickets sold out last month.
While Woods won't play this coming week, sources told The Dispatch that he has circled the Memorial as a potential return date.
Woods hasn't played a tour event since the Genesis Invitational in Los Angeles in February. The PGA Tour restarted in mid-June and is in its fourth week of its return, without fans. The Memorial will be the first to allow spectators.
Woods, who is currently ranked No. 14 in the world, has won Jack Nicklaus' annual tournament five times and remains linked to the founder, who won a record 18 major championships while on the PGA Tour. Last year, Woods won the Masters, his first major championship since 2008, bringing his career total to 15.
While Woods has gone almost five months without appearing in a PGA event, he did take part in "The Match: Champions for Charity," a televised exhibition with Tom Brady, Peyton Manning and Mickelson in May. Paired with Manning, they beat Mickelson and Brady by one stroke.
The PGA Tour is currently stopped in Detroit for the Rocket Mortgage Classic where Chris Kirk and Webb Simpson stand atop the leaderboard through the two rounds at 12-under-par.
Kirk is in the field for Workday next week, while Simpson, who is sixth in the world rankings, is not.
Other top-ranked golfers to participate in the Workday event include Xander Schauffele, who is 11th worldwide, and Justin Rose, who is 13th.
