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PGA Tour: Tiger Undergoes 4th Surgery

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PLANO – Tiger Woods’ health situation took another turn for the worse on Thursday when the former PGA star underwent his fourth back surgery in the past 37 months.  Woods is sidelined from golf indefinitely and the surgery will require at least a six-month recovery period.  Woods underwent anterior lumbar inter-body fusion surgery to remove a damaged disc in his lower back and re-elevate collapsed disc space to its normal level.

Tiger Woods at recent tournament in Dubai

His three previous surgeries, along with a herniated disc, were causing Woods to suffer from sciatica and severe back and leg pain.

“The surgery went well, and I’m optimistic this will relieve my back spasms and pain,” Woods said in a statement released online. “When healed, I look forward to getting back to a normal life, playing with my kids, competing in professional golf and living without the pain I have been battling so long.”

Woods underwent the surgery at the Center for Disc Replacement at the Texas Back Institute in Plano, Texas.
Dr. Richard Guyer was optimistic after performing the surgery on Woods.

“After he recovers from surgery, he will gradually begin his rehabilitation until he is completely healed,” Guyer said. “Once that’s accomplished, his workouts will be geared to allowing him to return to competitive golf.

“If you are going to have single-level fusion, the bottom level is the best place for it to occur. Some individuals are born with one less vertebrae, which would be similar to someone who had a single-level fusion.”

Guyer said Woods will rest for several weeks before beginning physical therapy and treatment.

Woods, 41, attempted a comeback earlier this year after a 17-month absence and it didn’t go well.

He missed the cut at the Farmers Insurance Open in late January. The following week, he withdrew after the first round of the Dubai Desert Classic due to back spasms.

Woods held out hope he could play in the Masters in early April but eventually announced he was unable to play.

The 14-time major champion originally underwent microdiscectomy surgery to remove a fragment that was causing a pinched nerve in the spring of 2014. He later underwent another microdiscectomy surgery in September 2015 and a follow-up procedure the following month.

Woods said Thursday that well-wishers have raised his spirits during the lengthy ordeal.

“I would like to thank all the fans for staying in touch and their kind wishes,” Woods said. “The support I have received has never waned, and it really helps.

Tiger Out with Back Spasms

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DUBAI – (Special to Digital Sports Desk by The Sports Xchange) – Tiger Woods withdrew from the Omega Dubai Desert Classic on Friday because of back spasms — one day after shooting an opening 5-over-par 77 — in another setback to his return to golf after a long injury layoff.

Woods’ manager, Mark Steinberg, said the 14-time major champion had back spasms after dinner on Thursday night.

“Tiger Woods went into a spasm in his lower back fairly late last night … got treatment done early this morning for 3 1/2 hours, but can’t get it out,” Steinberg said at Emirates Golf Club. “He says it’s not the nerve, but back spasm, and he can’t get the spasms to calm down. He can move around, but he can’t make a full rotation in his swing.”

Woods had five bogeys and no birdies during his first round at the European Tour event in Dubai, United Arab Emirates.

The 41-year-old Woods, who dismissed his health issues for the reason of his poor play on Thursday, was playing in his second official tournament following a 17-month layoff due to multiple back surgeries in 2015.

“No, I wasn’t in pain at all,” Woods said when asked about it after his opening round. “I was just trying to hit shots, and I wasn’t doing a very good job.”

Woods was paid a seven-figure appearance fee to play in the tournament, the first time he traveled to the Middle East for an event in three years.

Steinberg told ESPN the hope is that Woods can still play in the Genesis Open (Feb. 16-19) — which benefits Woods’ foundation — at Riviera Country Club in two weeks.

“Spasms are a funny thing; I’m certainly no doctor, but they come and go,” Steinberg said. “And again, the fact that he feels as though it’s not the nerve pain, that’s very encouraging for him. He’s had spasms before. He’s got to get the spasm to calm down, from what I gather. He has his trainer here, which is good, and that’s who has been working on him for the past several hours.”

PGA Tour: Tiger’s Back!

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LaJOLLA – (Special to Digital Sports Desk by The Sports Xchange) – Tiger’s back. Those words have a double meaning this week as Tiger Woods tees it up in the Farmers Insurance Open, his first regular-season event since he tied for 10th in the Wyndham Championship in August 2015.

Woods, who turned 41 on Dec. 30, underwent the last two of his three back surgeries since that last tournament, but he seemed to have no physical problems when he played in the unofficial Hero World Challenge in the Bahamas last month.

“I thought what I did at the Hero World Challenge was a positive step,” Woods wrote recently on his website. “I just need to keep building off that and eliminate the simple mistakes I made.

“Being away from the game that long, I made some really dumb errors I don’t normally make, and it cost me. … My good stuff was really good, which is a great sign. I know many people doubted whether I would play competitive golf again, and to be honest, even I wasn’t sure.”

Tiger Woods

Woods led the Hero field with 24 birdies in 72 holes and was especially impressive in a bogey-free, 7-under-par 65 in the second round. However, he also made three double bogeys and a triple bogey, and he closed with a 76 to finish 15th in the 18-player field.

Henrik Stenson of Sweden, who finished second in the Bahamas, said everyone should be patient when it comes to the man who dominated golf for the first 10 years of the century.

“We need to give Tiger at least six tournaments, maybe up to the time of the Masters, as four rounds after being away for 15 months is far too early to be judging him,” said Stenson, whose victory in the Open Championship at Royal Troon last July leaves him 13 major titles behind Woods.

“The thing is with Tiger, he’s won 79 times on the PGA Tour, and once he gets his comfort zone, his game and puts himself into contention, he will not have forgotten how to win.

“You never forget how to win, and that never goes away.”

Woods is coming back at Torrey Pines in a tournament he has won seven times. He also claimed his last major title on the South Course in the 2008 U.S. Open in a memorable 19-hole playoff with Rocco Mediate.

Not only that, but he won six titles in the Junior World Championships, which is played annually at Torrey Pines and other courses in the San Diego area.

“Yeah, I feel comfortable here, there is no doubt,” Woods said in 2013, when he last won at Torrey. “There are few courses that are like that, where I’ve had my share of success where either I’ve won or been in contention to win. This (course), Firestone, Augusta, I just feel comfortable on those venues, and I feel like my record over those three courses has been pretty good.

“I first came down here (as a youngster) during the old Andy Williams (San Diego Open, now sponsored by Farmers). And I went out and watched some Cali guys, and I watched Mo (Mark O’Meara) play, Cookie (John Cook). I think Corey (Pavin) I saw hit a couple shots. I saw Andy Bean hit the ball on the green on 2 and 18. I must have been probably, what, single digits in age, somewhere around there, because I was just now starting to come down here for the Junior World at the time. My dad took me to two events … it was here as well as the L.A. Open.”

When Woods last played in the Farmers in 2015, he was forced to withdraw during the first round because of back tightness. Not long after, he underwent the first of the three back surgeries.

There also have been ACL, knee, shoulder, neck and elbow injuries over the years, so the big question is whether Woods’ body can hold up in his 40s.

“My love for the game never left,” Woods said. “It’s just that the body would not allow me to play. Now my body is allowing me to do it again. Combine that with the amount of support I have received from so many people, and the help I’ve had from players and friends, and there is great reason for optimism.”

Woods was last No. 1 in the Official World Golf Ranking in 2013, when he won five times on the PGA Tour, and players such as Jason Day of Australia, Rory McIlroy of Northern Ireland, Jordan Spieth have come along to fill the void.

However, for the pros who saw his dominance up close and personal, none of them come close to Tiger.

“My desire is for some of these young guys to experience for at least one year, at least one, maybe two, of what most of us have experienced for a long time,” Zach Johnson said.

But only time will tell if the Tiger of old really is back

PGA Tour: Golf at a Glance

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PGA TOUR: Farmers Insurance Open on the North and South courses at Torrey Pines Golf Course in La Jolla, Calif., Thursday through Sunday.
TV: Thursday and Friday, 3-7 p.m. EST on the Golf Channel; Saturday and Sunday, 1-2:30 p.m. EST on the Golf Channel and 3-6 p.m. EST on CBS.
LAST YEAR: Brandt Snedeker closed with a 3-under-par 69 on Sunday but had to wait until the rain-delayed final round finished on Monday to claim the eighth victory of his PGA Tour career by one stroke over K.J. Choi of South Korea. Jimmy Walker held a one-stroke lead over Snedeker and Choi when play resumed on Monday, but he struggled in the windy conditions and made bogeys on four of the eight holes he played to finish at 77 to tie for fourth. Choi also struggled on his way to a 76 and missed a 30-foot birdie putt on the final hole that would have tied Snedeker and forced a playoff. Snedeker won the Farmers for the second time, having come from seven strokes behind with a final-round 67 in 2012 before beating Kyle Stanley with a par on the second playoff hole.

PGA Tour: Tiger to Play Riviera in LA

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LOS ANGELES – (Staff report from News Release) – Golfing legend Tiger Woods committed to play at the Genesis Open, marking his return to the tournament where he made his first PGA Tour start. The regular PGA Tour event is scheduled to be played Feb. 16-19, 2017 in Los Angeles. Woods was a high school sophomore when he played in what was then-known as the Nissan Los Angeles Open in 1992. He was a runner-up at Riviera Country Club in both 1998 and 1999 but has not played the event since 2006.

“This is where it all started for me,” Woods said. “It was my first PGA Tour event, I was 16 years old, I weighed about 105 pounds, and it was a life-changing moment for me.”

Woods’ commitment is not a surprise given that the tournament, which was called the Northern Trust Open last season, now benefits the Tiger Woods Foundation. Woods made his return to competitive golf earlier this month, finishing 15th out of the 17 players competing at the Hero World Challenge in his first start in nearly 16 months.

PGA Tour: Tiger’s Back

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NASSAU, Bahamas – (Wire Service Report) – (Special to Digital Sports Desk) – Tiger Woods fired a bogey-free, 7-under-par 65 on Friday to mark his lowest round in three years, and the former top-ranked player in the world sits at 6-under overall after two rounds at the Hero World Challenge in the Bahamas.
Woods, 40, sank seven birdies in only his second competitive round of golf since the Wyndham Championship in August 2015. He played his first nine at 3-under before rattling off four birdies on five holes from Nos. 11-15.

Woods’ turn-back-the-clock performance left him at 6-under 138, six shots behind co-leaders Dustin Johnson and Hideki Matsuyama in the 17-player field.

Tiger Woods

“It feels good. As I said yesterday, I had it going for eight holes and I lost it and finished over par,” Woods said Friday, referring to his opening round when he struggled on the back nine. “Today was different.”

Before Friday, Woods’ last bogey-free round came in 2015 at the Greenbrier Classic (67).

The 14-time major champion started well with four birdies on eight holes in his opening round Thursday, but carded two double-bogeys on the final three holes for a 73.

On Friday, Woods nearly aced the par-3 12th, sticking a 6-iron within a foot of the hole. He also birdied four of the par-5s, including Nos. 9 and 11, which he bogeyed in the first round.

“I turned those two par-fives into under par and that’s four shots right there,” Woods noted. “Consequently, I was able to play the middle part of the round better, turned it around, kept the momentum going and I moved myself up the board.”

Matt Kuchar and Louis Oosthuizen are two shots back of the leaders after matching 67s while Bubba Watson is another shot behind at 9-under 135 after shooting the day’s best round with a 63.

Olympic champion Justin Rose of England, scheduled to play with Woods, withdrew before the second round with a back injury, reducing the field to 17 players

Tiger Withdraws from Safeway Open

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Tiger Woods announced he is withdrawing from this week’s PGA Tour event, the Safeway Open, in Napa, California. Woods also noted he will not play at a November event in Turkey. Woods’ statement:

“After a lot of soul searching, and honest reflection, I know that I am not yet ready to play on the PGA TOUR or compete in Turkey. My health is good and I feel strong, but my game is vulnerable and not where it needs to be. It’s not up to my standards, and I don’t think it would be up to yours.”

Tiger Woods at recent Ryder Cup tournament

Woods recently appeared as a non-playing co-captain for the victorious USA team at the biannual Ryder Cup tournament. At the tournament, he indicated he was planning to return to the PGA Tour at Napa and begin a comeback from a series of injuries and setbacks. The PGA Tour season ended with the FedEx Cup and Tour Championship in September, but a Fall Season is about to begin.

The PGA Tour starts in earnest in January with two events in Hawaii.

 

Golf at Rio ’16 – What a Shame Game

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By TERRY LYONS, Digital Sports Desk Editor-in-Chief

In October of 2009, I pictured this month’s Sports Illustrated cover with grandiose visions dancing in my head from memories of a February, 1991 cover depicting Michael, Charles and the Mailman with Magic and Bird – the Dream Team.

My imagination, dancing from those memories, conjured up a special meeting in New York City with a few cases of cold suds and a few industry friends. We’d take-over a conference room at Sports Illustrated and SI-writer extraordinaire Jack McCallum would be holding forth, along with the creative minds of Chris Stone (now the head honcho), longtime basketball scribe and author and former Vermont Frost Heaves GM Alex Wolff, legendary writers like Gary Smith, Steve Rushin, Leigh Montville, and Ian Thomsen along with award-winning photographers Walter Iooss and John McDonough.

From the NBA’s side, we’d toss in Brian McIntyre, Russ Granik and Rick Welts, for old times sake, as they were among the architects of the “original” Dream Team. Kim Bohuny, a scratch golfer out of Furman and a longtime NBA-USA Basketball-Goodwill Games executive would be asked to put on both her basketball hat and golf visor, for which we would reward her with a bottle or two of Silver Oak.

Gold Medalist Justin Rose

From the world of golf, we’d need some creative genius and no better place to start than with David Feherity, commentator, talk show host and former pro golfer. He’d be joined by Golf Channel cohort Tommy Roy, the executive producer on the PGA Tour but also a contributor to the NBA on NBC. Add in the great Bob Condron, formerly of the USOC and currently the venue chief for golf at Rio 2016, along with golf course architect Gil Hanse as the majordomo for the return of the sport of golf to the Games. We’d toss in Verne Lundquist and Bill Raftery for some sporting perspective and humor, and top it off with the brilliance of Nick Faldo and Jack Nicklaus to be sure everything was as copacetic as a Bill “Bojangles” dance marathon.

The issue at hand and nearing deadline would be the proper naming and headline writing of my imaginary (but just recently received) “Double Issue” Olympic Preview of Sports Illustrated, once king of Olympic Games coverage. The assembled group would discuss the options.

Fast forward — In the July 25-August 1st edition, seven United States Olympians graced the cover. It was fine. There were stories on Simone Biles, the new Queen of women’s gymnastics, on Usain Bolt and the “next gen” of track & field athletes, on the most decorated Olympian ever in Michael Phelps. His USA Swimming teammates Missy Franklin and Katie Ledecky had their S.L. Price moment, right alongside a Price-penned “back-of-the-book” piece on the “Refugee Team,” a group of Olympians competing without the backing of a country to call home or a flag with which to march into the Olympic Stadium.

There wasn’t a single story on GOLF.

With the sport of golf teeing it up for the first Olympics since 1904, I envisioned an issue filled with profiles on the greatest active golfers – the “Dream Teams” of Dormie.

Let’s take a quick look at who could’ve graced the “Golf Plus” SI cover of a lifetime.

USA

Tiger Woods

Phil Mickelson

Jordan Spieth

Rickie Fowler

Spain

Sergio Garcia

Miguel Angel Jimenez

Ireland

Padraig Harrington

Northern Ireland

Rory McIlroy

Darren Clarke

South Africa

Ernie Els

Retief Goosen

Louis Oosthuizen

Australia

Jason Day

Adam Scott

Germany

Bernard Langer

Martin Kaymer

England

Lee Westwood

Justin Rose

Ian Poulter

Luke Donald

S Korea

KJ Choi

Japan

Hideki Matsuyama

Fiji

Vijay Singh

Sweden

Henrik Stenson

And, that’s just to name a few of the sport’s greatest active golfers.

The SI Cover could’ve looked a little like the album cover of Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band, although I’m not a sure we could replace only four Beatles. We might’ve needed eight or ten silky psychedelic suits to do the sport and its global appeal justice. They could’ve all gathered around on the Zoysia grass with a few flowers to add some color. Peter Blake and Jann Haworth would be much obliged by the newfound work and a hefty Time, Inc. payday.

Of course, the pundits would’ve been conjuring and criticizing an Isiah Thomas-like conspiracy theory snub-fest, fueling enough debate to knock The Donald off the boob tube for a night or two, and we don’t mean The (Luke) Donald.

The gripes?

Where’s Jim Furyk?

Where’s Colin Montgomery, that old crank from Scotland, the birthplace of the sport?

How come there are no golfers from Canada on the cover?

Tiger’s washed up and can’t play anymore (Remember the Larry Bird critics?)

Instead? We give you Golf in the 2016 Summer Olympic games.

Thud! What a waste of a sport.

Just as sure as the IOC reinstated Baseball and Softball for the 2020 games in baseball-loving Japan, you can bet your Callaway Great Big Bertha that golf will get the (sand) trap door at the next world congress of sporting corruption. Hospitality and event planners for 2024, you can kiss your birdies good-bye.

It could’ve been great. It could’ve done for golf what the Dream Team did for basketball in 1992.

But, oh no, only a handful of the best golfers in the world wanted to play.

If it were the ’92 basketball players balking, it would’ve been a public relations nightmare for the N.B.A. and, the likes of Ben Simmons, Dirk Nowitzki, Yao Ming and Tony Parker might’ve never seen United States soil, never mind NBA stardom, worldwide fame and fortune. But, this summer, golf is being given the benefit of the doubt and a free ride, PR-wise, as health threats from the terrible Zika virus and the outdoor nature of the game have swayed public opinion of the sporting slight to say, “Well that’s alright with us”

Rightfully, we should point out and give proper credit where it is due to the likes of Kaymer, Stenson, Rose, Fowler, and Harrington. High-fives to Matt Kuchar, Bubba Watson of the USA, Graham Dalaet and David Hearn of Canada and Jhonattan Vegas of Venezuela, just to name a few of the men’s golfers scheduled to compete. And, the women of the LPGA deserve much credit as their showing is strong, but sadly, far less impactful for the overall growth of the sport.

Just think of what could’ve been as we all planned the cover and penned the new name.

What would your suggestion have been for the headline of the Return of Golf to the Olympics issue?

Sadly, we could only come up with – “What a Shame Game.”

Copyright 2017

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