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Woods plans on Oct. return
He’s hoping to play Safeway
Back surgeries have forced Tiger Woods off the PGA Tour since Aug. 23, 2015. (file/Alex Brandon/AP)
By Doug Ferguson
Associated Press

CARMEL, Ind. — Out of golf for more than a year, Tiger Woods said Wednesday he hopes to play the first event of the PGA Tour season next month and could play as much as twice more before the end of the year.

Woods said if his rehabilitation from back surgeries keeps going well, he would play the Safeway Open in Napa, Calif., on Oct. 13-16.

‘‘My rehabilitation is to the point where I’m comfortable making plans, but I still have work to do,’’ Woods said in a surprise announcement on his website. ‘‘Whether I can play depends on my continued progress and recovery. My hope is to have my game ready to go.’’

Woods last played on Aug. 23, 2015, at the Wyndham Championship. Two shots out of the lead going into the final round, he closed with a 70 and tied for 10th. A month later, he announced that he had another operation on his back. Then Woods had a third back surgery last October.

This year, he missed all four majors for the first time in his career.

The Safeway Open is the opening event of the wraparound PGA Tour season. Woods also said he intends to play in the Turkish Airlines Open the first weekend in November and his Hero World Challenge in the Bahamas the first week of December, where he would be eligible for the 18-man field as the tournament host.

He also said he would take part in his Tiger Woods Invitational, a charity event for his foundation, Oct. 10-11 on the Monterey Peninsula.

‘‘It was difficult missing tournaments that are important to me, but this time I was smart about my recovery and didn’t rush it,’’ Woods said.

‘‘He needs to get back out here,’’ US Open champion Dustin Johnson said. ‘‘The tour needs him, and I want to see him playing well again. He’s not going to come back unless he’s ready, so I feel like he’ll play well.

“Winning? I don’t see it right away. But he’s on a different level than anyone else. He’ll be prepared.’’

Woods won his 79th PGA Tour title in 2013 at the Bridgestone Invitational, leaving him three short of the record held by Sam Snead. The last of his 14 majors was in the 2008 US Open, right before reconstructive surgery on his left knee. He hasn’t seriously contended in a major since 2013. Woods had his first back surgery right before the 2014 Masters.

‘‘I’m looking forward to seeing him play again, seeing what the state of his game is,’’ world No. 1 Jason Day said. ‘‘I think he’s done it the right way by waiting and not coming back too soon.

“There’s been a couple of times where I feel like he may have come back too soon and kind of injured himself a little bit more, and that’s what’s kept him out of the game so long.’’

McIlroy finds stroke

Rory McIlroy suddenly has new life in what had been a drab season.

All it took was a phone call to British putting coach Phil Kenyon, a little work and a little patience, and a victory in the Deutsche Bank Championship that reminded McIlroy what had been sorely missing in his game.

He doesn’t need to putt great. He just needs to avoid putting poorly.

‘‘I was looking at the stats from my win here in 2012,’’ McIlroy said Wednesday at Crooked Stick for the BMW Championship in Carmel, Ind. ‘‘And I think out of 70 players, I finished 49th in strokes gained putting and won by two, shot 20 under par. So you don’t have to putt great, but you can’t putt poorly, either.

“If you have a great ball-striking week, if you’re sort of just average in putting, you can have a great chance to win.’’

McIlroy ended another season without a major, though that victory at TPC Boston on Monday moved him to No. 4 in the FedEx Cup and gave him a clear shot at the $10 million bonus, which he has never won.

McIlroy was the best player in golf in 2012 (when he won at the TPC Boston and Crooked Stick in successive weeks) and in 2014 (when he won the last two majors). Both times, someone else played better and won the FedEx Cup.

And there’s one other cup at the end that could turn a major-less year into a sweet one.

‘‘If I can play the way I am playing through the next two events of this FedEx Cup playoffs and into the Ryder Cup, I still won’t have achieved what I wanted to achieve this season, but it’s a nice way to finish the season off,’’ he said. ‘‘It’s not a bad way to finish the year.’’