Scottie Scheffler among 17 initial commitments for Hero World Challenge

Scottie Scheffler is set to defend his Hero World Challenge title.

Scheffler, the world No. 1 who won by three shots at Albany last December, highlighted Tuesday’s initial field announcement, which included 17 players and three spots to be determined.

Of those 17 players, six are first-timers: Ludvig Åberg, Sahith Theegala, Russell Henley, Robert MacIntyre, Aaron Rai and Matthieu Pavon.

While three exemptions remain available, it’s unknown if tournament host Tiger Woods will play. Woods, who said at last year’s Hero that he planned to compete once a month this year (that didn’t happen as Woods logged five starts, including four majors), was asked at The Open in July if he would tee it up at all before the Hero and PNC Championship later in December. Woods responded, “I’m not going to play until then. I’m going to just keep getting physically better and keep working on it. Hopefully just come back for our – what is it, our fifth major, the Father/Son, so looking forward to it.”

But that was before Woods underwent microdecompression surgery on his back on Sept. 13. A timetable for Woods’ return to golf was not given.

This year’s Hero is scheduled to be played Dec. 5-8.

Here is a look at the full field with world ranking in parentheses:

Scottie Scheffler (1), U.S.
Ludvig Åberg (5), Sweden
Wyndham Clark (6), U.S.
Hideki Matsuyama (7), Japan
Patrick Cantlay (9), U.S.
Sahith Theegala (12), U.S.
Keegan Bradley (13), U.S.
Russell Henley (15), U.S.
Robert MacIntyre (16), Scotland
Sam Burns (17), U.S.
Brian Harman (19), U.S.
Sungjae Im (20), South Korea
Tony Finau (21), U.S.
Tom Kim (23), South Korea
Aaron Rai (24), England
Billy Horschel (25), U.S.
Matthieu Pavon (26), France