Tiger Woods was listed in the field for next month's Masters on the tournament website on Thursday, the biggest sign yet that the 15-time major winner will compete at Augusta National.
The 48-year-old superstar was among 85 players listed in the field for the April 11-14 showdown rather than among the 17 listed as "past champions not playing" on the Masters website.
Woods, whose 82 career PGA Tour titles shares the all-time record set by Sam Snead, has not played since withdrawing from last month's Genesis Invitational at Riviera after the first round due to illness.
The former world No 1 has won five times in 25 Masters starts, taking the green jacket in 1997, 2001, 2002, 2005 and in 2019 in his most recent major triumph.
Woods made the cut in his 23rd consecutive Masters start last year, tying Fred Couples and Gary Player for the longest such streak in tournament history, but he withdrew in the third round due to plantar fasciitis.
After undergoing ankle surgery last April to repair injuries from a 2021 car crash, Woods did not compete again until his Hero World Challenge invitational event in the Bahamas last December.
Woods has not finished four rounds at a major since the 2022 Masters, where he finished 47th in his comeback event after suffering severe leg injuries in the 2021 crash. He withdrew from the 2022 PGA Championship after three rounds and missed the cut at the 2022 British Open.