Tiger Woods will not be at TPC Sawgrass this week to defend his Players Championship title, and based on the tone of a blog entry he made on his website on Monday, it does not appear he’ll be even close to ready to play the US Open next month.
Even the British Open in July at Hoylake, where he won his last Claret Jug in 2006, sounds like a long shot for Woods, who is recovering from March 31 microdiscectomy surgery on his back. The PGA Championship in August seemingly is his best chance at playing a major championship in 2014.
Woods described his recovery from back surgery as a “slow process” and said he remains uncertain when he will return to competitive golf.
“I’m doing everything I can and listening to my doctors and working on a strength program, and then we just have to see how my back is,’’ Woods wrote. “Some people heal up in three months, some people take longer. I just don’t know. I made the decision to have surgery because physically I just couldn’t make a golf swing.’’
Woods, who revealed he’s been doing some putting and “chip-and-runs,’’ has not even taken a swing with a sand wedge yet.
“As far as taking a full swing, I have conference calls with my doctors every couple of weeks to see how my progress is and just kind of chart it out from there,’’ he wrote. “Basically, you just follow a program. It’s tedious because it’s little rehab stuff, but you still have to do it. That’s where I think the experiences of having gone through the surgeries in the past have really helped because you have to lay the foundation down first before you can do the more arduous activities and then return to form. I’m walking and able to cycle now and started swimming last week.”
He began experiencing back problems at the Barclays Championship last August at Liberty National in Jersey City. Those issues surfaced again in March at the Honda Classic, where he withdrew during the final round.
He tried to play the following week at the WGC-Cadillac Championship at Trump Doral and shot a final-round 78 to finish 25th. Two weeks, later he decided not to defend his title at the Arnold Palmer Invitational and then withdrew a week before the Masters.
Woods mentioned the procedure he had on his back was the same as the one Dallas Cowboys quarterback Tony Romo had. Woods said he has been in contact with Romo.
“Once I begin swinging a club again, I’m not sure if I will have to make any changes to protect my back,” Woods wrote. “That’s up to [coach] Sean Foley and me on what we do. As far as limitations, it’s a building process, just like when I came back from my knee and Achilles injuries. You start from the green and work your way back: putting, chipping, pitching, wedging, mid-irons, long irons, woods and eventually playing. That’s all a process and takes time. We have to make sure my back heals fine and I have the strength and mobility going forward.”
Woods, who has played in only four tournaments this year, is next scheduled to speak publicly on May 19, at the media day for his annual tournament at Congressional, the newly-named Quicken Loans National in Bethesda, Md.