Golf took a backseat to health and safety for Tiger Woods amid the COVID-19 pandemic, which is why he didn't play in the PGA Tour's first five tournaments once play resumed following the hiatus. 

He explained his mindset ahead of this week's Memorial Tournament in Dublin, Ohio, which will mark his first tour event since February's Genesis Invitational, per Mike Wells of ESPN:

"I just felt it was better to stay at home and be safe. I'm used to playing with lots of people around me or having lots of people have a direct line to me, and that puts not only myself in danger but my friends and family, and just been at home practicing and social distancing and being away from a lot of people. Coming back and playing the tour, in my case over the 20-some-odd years I've been out here, that's really hard to say, that I'm used to having so many people around me or even touch me, going from green to tee. That's something that I looked at and said, well, I'm really not quite comfortable with that, that whole idea."

While Woods has not participated in a tour event since February, he did join Peyton Manning, Tom Brady and Phil Mickelson at May's Capital One's "The Match: Champions for Charity" to raise money for COVID-19 relief.

Woods routinely draws a massive gallery as fans follow him on the course during tournaments, so playing in the Memorial without any spectators present will be a change for him.

"It's going to be different, there's no doubt about it," Woods said. "For most of my career, pretty much almost every competitive playing round that I've been involved in, I've had people around me, spectators yelling, a lot of movement inside the gallery with camera crews and media."

Injuries have defined extended stretches of the latter portion of Woods' career, but he appeared healthy in May and will look to build on his few appearances this season.

He won the Zozo Championship in October, helped guide the United States to a win in December's Presidents Cup, tied for ninth at the Farmers Insurance Open in January and finished a disappointing 67th at the Genesis.

The 15-time major winner should be in his comfort zone at Muirfield Village Golf Club, when the Memorial Tournament tees off Thursday seeing as how he's won the event a record five times.

It will also provide him with an opportunity to work on his game and potentially build toward three major opportunities this year at the PGA Championship (Aug. 6), U.S. Open (Sept. 17) and Masters (Nov. 12).

He is just three major victories behind Jack Nicklaus' record 18 and very well could continue his pursuit now that he is returning to the course.