Tiger WDs from Firestone Event

[jamo]

I hear a giant sucking sound in the PGA prediction thread. How many picked Woods?

Rickie Fowler, baby! :-D I did hedge my bets a little and back Tiger in one of the later questions for the staff predictions. Might have to email @mchepp and get him to change some things.

[RJH999]

I was really enjoying watching a tour pro hit crap shots (I kept saying "I got that shot")...feel kinda bad now that I now know he was hurt.

I'd recommend watching John Daly & David Duval.

[David in FL]

No obvious winces of pain or anything, and that shot on 2 didn't seem to bother him at the time. Some shots I'd never expect him to hit, like that tee ball on 5 though.... I just don't know....but there are going to be those who wonder if his fall back position for poor play won't become to claim injury. I hope not. I also genuinely hope that he's not badly hurt again.

[nevets88]

No matter how fit or strong anyone is, it's crazy the stress an inordinate number of golf swings puts on the body even if you do it the least stressful way.

[JetFan1983]

What I find amazing is that Faldo said Graham DeLaet had the same back surgery as Tiger and DeLaet missed something like 10-11 months. Tiger came back in 11 weeks. I know everybody's different, but that's quite the dramatic difference in time table between those two guys.

DeLeat: chipping and putting after three months. Returned to competition after six months. Deemed he came back too soon, and took another four-five months off after that.

Tiger back in eleven weeks.

I really hope it's just a spasm, and he did say it felt like it was in a different spot than where he had the surgery, but if it's not a spasm and this is related, then this raises some eyebrows I guess in his decision making.

I just don't know....but there are going to be those who wonder if his fall back position for poor play won't become to claim injury. I hope not. I also genuinely hope that he's not badly hurt again.

Yea, this did cross my mind at one point as well.

And I know he's rich and was only, what, nine holes away from a pay check? It seems unlikely, but certainly possible.

[golfbarefoot]

really bummed about T-Dub. No PGA, No Ryder Cup.. No skyrocket ratings... Haters can rejoice as usual, but we are watching the end of an era. He was very special and probably the best I've ever seen in my life. Another Team-Nike guy will probably take over the throne now...

[jamo]

No obvious winces of pain or anything, and that shot on 2 didn't seem to bother him at the time. Some shots I'd never expect him to hit, like that tee ball on 5 though....

He did say the pain got progressively worse. [quote name="David in FL" url="/t/76270/tiger-wds-from-firestone-event/0_30#post_1031988"]I just don't know....but there are going to be those who wonder if his fall back position for poor play won't become to claim injury. I hope not. I also genuinely hope that he's not badly hurt again.[/quote] [puts on speculation hat] Tiger has withdrawn from a handful of tournaments the last few years citing injuries and has been hammered pretty hard for it. Operating on the assumption that he is human, and does care what people think about him, it's possible that he got swept up in that. There was also a bunch of hype before the season about 2014 being make-or-break, given his good prior play at the courses where this year's majors were being held. Maybe he felt pressure from that and just acted stupidly. [takes off speculation hat] I also can't imagine if he was healthy that he would give up the opportunity to gain 9 more holes of all-important reps a week before the PGA.

[golfbarefoot]

Dude.. Tiger probably isn't playing anymore in 2014.. C'mon. Another injury to his back after a recent, major surgery?

[k-troop]

Faked the pain today and the WD to avoid being snubbed for the Ryder Cup team. (Of course I just made that up, but someone was going to say it eventually. :-) )

[JetFan1983]

Quote:

Originally Posted by David in FL

I just don't know....but there are going to be those who wonder if his fall back position for poor play won't become to claim injury. I hope not. I also genuinely hope that he's not badly hurt again.

I also can't imagine if he was healthy that he would give up the opportunity to gain 9 more holes of all-important reps a week before the PGA.

Yea. It seems really unlikely it was faked. Seems easier to just suck it up, get the reps, go home, lick your wounds, and move onto the PGA.

But hey, at least we still have Patrick Reed in red and black today!

Hehe.

[MS256]

I was surprised he came back so soon because I thought it would take quite a while to learn new techniques I thought he would implement. I was even more surprised that he came back without much apparent effort to change swings at all.

It's not on Foley. Tiger is the one swinging the golf club and surely has some input into the direction he wants to go.

Nobody knows if Tiger would be any good with a different swing but to keep swinging with the same technique after an injury requiring surgery seems strange to me.

If something hurts me I'm going to figure out another way of doing it that doesn't hurt me and it doesn't make much difference what any coach may say. It may or may not cause a loss of performance but loss of performance is guaranteed when you can't play at all.

[ChrisP]

Mike Weir, Anthony Kim, David Duval, Paul Casey ... off the top of my head. Plenty of injured golfers, few of whom swing as fast as Tiger, none of whom are under ever a fraction of as much scrutiny.

Most of those guys suffered injuries in the same spot or same area, though. Kim kept suffering from hand/wrist injuries...same with Casey....Oosthuizen keeps hurting his back. With Tiger, it's been like every different part of his body. Goes from one area to the next to the next. Now it's a different part of the back. If you would play the game "Operation", they could use Tiger Woods as the cover for the game.

[newtogolf]

If Tiger injured himself again (even if it's in a different spot) he just needs to shut it down for the rest of this season.   Maybe there's a legit reason others that had the same surgery didn't come back for 6 months.  I'm sure Tiger feels the pressure of chasing Jack's record but he's not going to get it this way.

[jas72]

We golfers are such creatures of habit.  As I watched the replay of the tee shot and his obvious pain as he was slowly starting to walk toward the fairway, here's a guy who is nearly (or maybe is) a billionaire, reaching down to pick up his tee!  Not once did it seem to even cross his mind that it was going to hurt or this tee is worth just a few cents and I don't need it any more today, he just reflexively reaches down and picks it up.  Amazing.

[Zeph]

I wonder how much longer Tiger has the drive to keep playing golf. Injuries has been his thing the last six (?) years. He's played great when he's been healthy and gotten a few tournaments in, but it rarely last very long. Six years that's been highlighted by injuries and a lack of major victories.

I'm disappointed because I want to watch the best player play golf. I can't imagine how frustrating this must be to Tiger.

No need to talk about the playoffs and The Ryder Cup at this point I guess. Taking the year off might be the best. If he's feeling up to it, he will probably practice and play at home, but he's more likely to hurt himself in tournaments. Especially these days when his accuracy is off and he has to hit these funky shots all the time.

He said he's felt fine in the previous tournaments, but if he's been feeling this almost the entire round, one might question his priorities when he keeps playing. It's not like he was in danger of winning anything this weekend anyways.

[mvmac]

Quote:

"It's just the whole lower back. I don't know what happened," Woods told a PGA Tour official before exiting the grounds.

Asked if he had any indication he would be ready in time to compete in this week's PGA Championship, Woods replied, "I don't know. Just trying to get out of here."

[ChrisP]

The whole lower back? Yikes. That's not good.

[Mr. Desmond]

TIgs has major decisions to make ... about his game. A major rethinking seems in order. Will he see the reality and do what is necessary?

Stay tuned ... be patient.