With another surgery performed last week, when will Tiger call it quits on the PGA Tour?
Tiger Woods and surgery seem to be synonymous.
Not a stranger to the operating theater, the 48-year-old used social media on Friday to report the latest surgery, a microdecompression procedure on his back in West Palm Beach, Florida.
For Woods, the litany of surgeries began in 1994 when he had two benign tumors and scar tissue removed from his left knee as a student at Stanford University,
The carnival ride of surgeries continued in 2002, 2008, 2014, 2015, 2017, 2019, 2021, 2023 and now 2024.
Most of the surgeries were related to his back, knee or ankle, and each one seemingly would end the merry-go-round of medical intervention, but as the most recent announcement has proved, Woods’ health is still tenuous.
— Tiger Woods (@TigerWoods) September 13, 2024
All of it makes me wonder why he still does this.
Is his love of competition so encompassing that he continues jeopardizing his body?
In 2017, Woods had spinal fusion surgery, which was a drastic step but one he believed he needed to take.
By all accounts, the surgery was successful. Still, Woods continues to play golf, albeit limited in practice and competitively, but managed to win the Tour Championship in 2018, the 2019 Masters and the 2019 Zozo Championship.
That suggests his decision was correct.
However, since the end of the 2019 season, Woods has played in only 20 events over five seasons and has confirmed numerous times that he will play a very limited schedule going forward.
Tiger Woods hits his tee shot on the 12th hole during the first round of the Open Championship golf tournament at Royal Troon.
While he was clearly in pain at times in 2024, even walking oddly, Woods decided to play in all four majors and his tournament at Riviera.
The result was three missed cuts, a 60th at the Masters and a WD from The Genesis Invitational, which he is hosting.
Expecting anything else is just nonsense.
Let’s get back to the question of why.
Woods is a little over a year away from Champions Tour eligibility, where he can ride a cart and beat up on the over-50 crowd with impunity.
If he wants to compete, then it’s a perfect place.
Woods struggles to walk 18 holes, and you would be hard-pressed to suggest that walking 18 holes is good for him or what ails him, which seems to be everything.
Golf is one of those games where the greats seemingly can last forever, and even when they are no longer playing full-time, their mere presence at a tournament brings nostalgic thoughts.
Woods will evoke those feelings for as long as he lives; he has earned that, as Jack has and Arnold did, but there are a time and a place when you must move on, and with the latest update from Woods about his health, it’s clearly time for him to move on.
Woods may be the greatest who ever played the game, so what is he trying to prove?
