The Manila Times

Even a little Tiger is better than no Tiger at all

NASSAU, Bahamas: The only certainty about Tiger Woods is that he won’t be playing very much golf, and that’s if he decides it’s worth trying to scale a mountain taller than all the previous ones.

“Making progress,” he wrote to accompany a video of his swing he posted on Twitter two weeks ago.

“I’m so far from that,” he said on Tuesday (Wednesday in Manila) when talking about taking on Jon Rahm and Collin Morikawa and Rory McIlroy in the biggest events on the toughest golf courses.

Woods walked into the room at Albany Golf Club without a noticeable limp as he climbed onto the stage and took his seat behind a microphone. He left the stage a little more gingerly, and conceded his leg and back were aching just sitting there.

“We all want to see him back. We all want to see him healthy and playing like the Tiger Woods we’ve seen for 20 years,” Harris English said.

Those days were fading with age, and they probably are gone due to a badly damaged right leg stemming from a car crash in the Los Angeles suburbs some 10 months ago. Woods mentioned the possibility of amputation in the early stages of being hospitalized.

This is a slow road back before he can even think about the climb.

So much chatter is on the Masters in April, without consideration that Augusta National might be the toughest course to walk of any tournament he plays. Woods said he would love to return to the British Open at St. Andrews, where the steepest climb is crossing the Swilcan Bridge.

Woods has ruled out being a full-time player, and the argument can be made he already was headed in that direction. He played only 13 events on the PGA Tour in 2019, the last time he was healthy and the world wasn’t in the throes of a pandemic. The best-case scenario is a schedule geared around the majors, similar to Ben Ho1950s gan’s in the after his nearfatal car accident. Hogan was 37 when he won the 1950 US Open. Woods turns 46 at the end next month. Would it be enough to satisfy his legion of fans for him to play only a few tournaments a year? The short answer is yes. Because even a little Tiger is better than no Tiger at all.

Regions

en-ph

2021-12-05T08:00:00.0000000Z

2021-12-05T08:00:00.0000000Z

https://digitaledition.manilatimes.net/article/281827172052243

The Manila Times