Tiger Woods spoke publicly for the first time in nearly a year while making an appearance at the 2021 Hero World Challenge on Tuesday. Since a horrific car wreck in late February left Woods in a hospital bed for several weeks and at home in a wheelchair for a long period of time after that, Woods has not released much information at all outside of minor updates assuring golf fans that he was progressing.
A little over a week ago, we saw him swing a golf club for the first time since last December when he played in the PNC Championship with his son, Charlie. The clip was just 3 seconds long. On Monday, a lengthy interview with Golf Digest dropped, leaving us with some interesting nuggets including an admission from Woods that he will never play a full schedule again and that he doesn’t think he’ll “have the body to climb Mount Everest, and that’s OK.”
Still, there were plenty else to address and numerous questions to ask the 15-time major winner. On Tuesday, he spoke for 45 minutes about his accident, his life and what a potential comeback could look like him over the next few years. Here’s a look at everything meaningful that he said.
On this recovery compared to others: “This one’s been much more difficult [than the 10 combined on my knee and back]. The knee stuff that I had on my left knee, those operations were one thing, that’s one level. Then you add the back, that’s another level. And then with this right leg … it’s hard to explain how difficult it has been just to be immobile for the three months, just lay there and I was just looking forward to getting outside. That was a goal of mine.”
Woodshas said this multiple times now, and it remains incredibly sobering to read about one of the great athletes of all time longingly looking out the window wanting to be among myriad south Florida avian species and Bermuda turf.
On when he’ll return to the PGA Tour: “As far as playing at the Tour level, I don’t know when that’s going to happen. Now, I’ll play a round here or there, a little hit and giggle, I can do something like that. … To see some of my shots fall out of the sky a lot shorter than they used to is a little eye-opening, but at least I’m able to do it again. That’s something that for a while there it didn’t look like I was going to.”
Tiger also said he enjoys playing forward tees and chipping and putting but repeatedly insinuated that he’s unsure if his right leg will cooperate to the point that he’ll be able to compete at either a PGA Tour or major championship level ever again.
On what he remembers from the accident: "Yeah, all those answers have been answered in the investigation, so you can read about all that there in the post report."
It's probably not surprising, but Woods wouldn't touch anything about his accident other than to say that he "refused to turn on the local channels and news" and that he "wasn't mentally ready for that road" when he was laying in a hospital bed. I do wish he would have addressed the accident for a few reasons. First, there's been a pattern of driving incidents that deserves to be addressed. Also, whenever Woods opens up about personal problems, it humanizes him and empowers others to do the same.
On his general future: "Well, I've made the climb up there a few times, and I've had a pretty good run in my career. I just knew that once I came back from the spinal fusion surgery, I still had my hands. … So I came back here in 2017 and played in the Hero event … Then I started back in 2018 and started playing a little bit more and I started building. Once I started building, I realized after Tampa that I could win. Then I proved to myself that I could take the lead in the British Open. Well, I could close. Even though I did not win, I closed pretty good at the PGA at Bellerive, and then 2019 I won the Masters. I don't see that type of trend going forward for me. I won't have the opportunity to practice given the condition of my leg and build up. I just don't. I'll just have a different way of doing it, and that's okay and I'm at peace with that, I've made the climb enough times."
