Tiger's 2011 injuries: What to do?

[WUTiger]

The San Francisco Chronicle printed a summary (May 13) of Tiger's golf injuries:

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2011/05/13/SP8S1JFJ6I.DTL&type;=printable

1994. Tiger had minor left knee surgery during his freshman year at Sanford.

2002. Gets knee drained in December.

2007. Ruptures left ACL during conditioning run, but wins five of last six tournaments that year.

2008. Wins U.S. Open with torn left ACL and two left leg stress fractures; last tournament of year.

In 2010, he has neck disc and ankle problems, followed by this year's reinjury of the left knee.

He's 36 years old, and he needs to realize it will take him longer to heal than in his younger days. And he wants to make sure he heals properly...

If he comes back too soon, he runs the risk of:

• Becoming fearful of injury and not swinging fully - once this starts, his problems go from just physical, to physical and psychological.
• Injuring himself more seriously, with longer recovery time.

He should just take the rest of the season off and get things sorted out.

[iacas]

I voted for something that would cost me $100, but I'm fine with that. ;-)

[MrElculver2424]

You missed a choice...Skip the British Open, and tee it up at Firestone if he's ready.

That's what I think. I think he will be close to 100% by the British, but he'll be smart and stay out of it. Then it's 2 more weeks until Firestone, and I think he'll be 100% by then...so there is no reason to sit out the rest of the year if he's 100%.

So I'm not going to vote on the poll since my option isn't there.

He'll play at Firestone.

[sean_miller]

Originally Posted by iacas

I voted for something that would cost me $100, but I'm fine with that. ;-)

I voted that he should play through the pain, like Yzerman or Lemiux would have done. Actually Lemieux would have retired, then come out of retirement a couple years later and still be the best player in the league. Can I change my vote?

[newtogolf]

C'mon Sean, comparing golfers to hockey players in terms of toughness???  Even us americal football players think hockey players are crazy.

Originally Posted by sean_miller

I voted that he should play through the pain, like Yzerman or Lemiux would have done. Actually Lemieux would have retired, then come out of retirement a couple years later and still be the best player in the league. Can I change my vote?

[jamo]

I think he'll come back for the Bridgestone, but I'm leaning more and more towards "skip the rest of the season" every day. Then again, none of us know the extent of the injuries at all.

[WUTiger]

Quote:

I voted that he should play through the pain, like Yzerman or Lemiux would have done. Actually Lemieux would have retired, then come out of retirement a couple years later and still be the best player in the league. Can I change my vote?

In Tiger's current condition, every time he hits a full shot will be like hip-checking himself.

[ghalfaire]

If Tiger's as smart as I used to think he was he'll not play until the knee is healed and his head believes it.  I think that is 2012 Spring.

[MrElculver2424]

I think he'll come back for the Bridgestone, but I'm leaning more and more towards "skip the rest of the season" every day. Then again, none of us know the extent of the injuries at all.

I really don't think taking the rest of the year off is necessary. Don't think the injuries are that bad. He's walking fine with no limp, so he just has to start hitting balls and get 100% healthy. When he's 100%, that's as good as he's going to get...no such thing as 110% here. He'll skip Royal St. Georges and tee it up at Firestone. He needs to get his game back before next year's Masters.

[Callahan14]

Tigers injuries are way worse than anyone here knows. He will skip the rest of this year and return ion 2012 IMO. If he doesnt he is a fool.

[newtogolf]

Lack of limp is not an indication of injury severity.  I've played football with guys that damaged their MCL and didn't limp but when they turned the wrong way or planted improperly the knee would collapse.  Tiger is definitely injured and I think a bit scared that his left leg has become so fragile.  He needs to not only build up the ligaments and muscle in the area, but mentally he has to have confidence that he can take a full swing without the Achilles or ACL rupturing.  The time it will take for him to trust it on a full swing in an awkward lie will be much longer than the time it will take for the physical injury to heal and that's why I doubt he'll be back this year.

Originally Posted by MrElculver2424

I really don't think taking the rest of the year off is necessary. Don't think the injuries are that bad. He's walking fine with no limp, so he just has to start hitting balls and get 100% healthy. When he's 100%, that's as good as he's going to get...no such thing as 110% here.

He'll skip Royal St. Georges and tee it up at Firestone. He needs to get his game back before next year's Masters.

[jamo]

I really don't think taking the rest of the year off is necessary. Don't think the injuries are that bad. He's walking fine with no limp, so he just has to start hitting balls and get 100% healthy. When he's 100%, that's as good as he's going to get...no such thing as 110% here. He'll skip Royal St. Georges and tee it up at Firestone. He needs to get his game back before next year's Masters.

For most people taking the rest of the year off may not be necessary, but Tiger's had a lot of problems with that knee (ignoring the fact that the achilles is possibly a worse injury), so it might take him a bit more time (mentally and physically) to fix it this tie around. Also, Tiger has stated numerous times throughout his career (and just this week) that he won't play unless he thinks he can win. In that respect, he very might well have to be 110%. !00% to start practicing, then he'll need a little time to get his swing in order. I still think he has a chance to play at the Bridgestone, maybe even more than a 50/50 chance, but only time will tell. And, really, the point of my first was to assert that none of us actually know what is going on in his knee. Like other have said, ACL injuries often don't present with a limp, or even much observable pain until you swing a golf club 120 MPH hundreds (thousands, if you include the range) of times at a tournament. We're all speculating based on what we saw at Augusta, the Players, the press conference at the AT&T; National, and the rest of his career. It's pointless to talk in absolutes.

[MrElculver2424]

Originally Posted by Callahan14

Tigers injuries are way worse than anyone here knows. He will skip the rest of this year and return ion 2012 IMO. If he doesnt he is a fool.

Do you know more about his injuries than we do? I don't think so. If you do, please present some evidence and tell us what's going on.

[MrElculver2424]

Ok, we'll see. At this point, I feel about 95% sure he will play this year. My uncle is a doctor and from what I've been hearing from him (he knows Tiger's injured), Tiger should be back this year, and I'm sure he knows more about knee and Achilles injuries than all of you do.

[cdnglf]

The thing is, the rest of the year rides on the next month or so. Based on his AT&T; interview, it seems unlikely Tiger will be at the Open Championship. I'd be shocked if he showed up for the thick rough and narrow fairways of Shaugnessy the week after. Which leaves Firestone, PGA, and Wyndham (which he never plays). If he doesn't perform reasonably well at those events, he won't qualify for the Fedex Cup. So then what? Carpetbag around Europe? Use the Fall Finish as a rehab stint? As it stands, he looks like a long shot to qualify for the HSBC WGC, and its not entirely clear that he'll be eligible for his own Tiger Challenge event. If he's not ready for Firestone, I wouldn't be surprised to see him shut it down until next year.

[MrElculver2424]

Originally Posted by cdnglf

The thing is, the rest of the year rides on the next month or so. Based on his AT&T; interview, it seems unlikely Tiger will be at the Open Championship. I'd be shocked if he showed up for the thick rough and narrow fairways of Shaugnessy the week after. Which leaves Firestone, PGA, and Wyndham (which he never plays). If he doesn't perform reasonably well at those events, he won't qualify for the Fedex Cup. So then what? Carpetbag around Europe? Use the Fall Finish as a rehab stint? As it stands, he looks like a long shot to qualify for the HSBC WGC, and its not entirely clear that he'll be eligible for his own Tiger Challenge event. If he's not ready for Firestone, I wouldn't be surprised to see him shut it down until next year.

As long as he plays at Firestone and the PGA and does at least average , I think he'll qualify for The Barclays. He's 116th right now in the FedEx Cup standings. And if he plays decent or better (his game was finally coming around at the Masters), he'll go to the Deutsche Bank and maybe the BMW.

I agree that if he's not ready by Firestone he may shut it down...but I'll alter that a little...if he's not ready by the PGA, then he'll shut it down. He's not about to bypass another major.

[Jooma]

I do not think he should start at all this northern summer. There is a plenty of time to play Aussie or South African circuits in the northern winter and come back healthy to Hawaii.

[michaeljames92]

People stop speculating. The guy has already categorically said he won't return until he's completely healed. He's learnt his lessons from coming back too early. The reality is, he and his doctors don't know how fast his injuries will heal, Achilles can be really troublesome. Some heal quickly, others it can take a year.