NASSAU, Bahamas — Tiger Woods painted a bleak picture Tuesday on when he can return to golf or even get back to doing anything more than just walking.

Woods had two back surgeries in a span of 18 months followed by what he described only as another “procedure” in the same area last month. He hasn’t started rehabilitation and does not know when his back will allow for that.

“The hardest part for me is there’s nothing I can look forward to, nothing I can build toward,” Woods said. “It’s just taking it literally day by day and week by week and time by time.”

Woods is at the Hero World Challenge as the tournament host. The only time he touched a club was to pose for a photo, and he leaned on it while talking to Justin Rose and Zach Johnson.

A month away from turning 40, the smile did come easily.

Woods, who has spent 683 weeks at No. 1 in the world ranking, is now at No. 400, his lowest as a professional. He hasn’t won since the Bridgestone Invitational in 2013, when he was the PGA Tour player of the year.

Advertisement

And now he can’t even begin to imagine when he might play again.

“I have no answer for that and neither does my surgeon or my physios,” he said. “There is no timetable.”

He hasn’t competed since Aug. 23 at the Wyndham Championship in Greensboro, North Carolina, where he attracted record crowds in his first appearance and played his best golf of a bad year. He went into the final round two shots behind and tied for 10th.

He didn’t realize that would be his last event of the year, and last tournament for longer than he knows.

“Was it a surprise? Yeah,” Woods said. “Because as I was alluding to that week and subsequent weeks, I felt my hip was killing me and I didn’t think it was coming from my back. We worked out in the trailer each and every day, and just tried to loosen up my hip. And OK, fine, we went out and played. But I didn’t feel any back discomfort.

“Come to find out it wasn’t my hip, it was coming from my back.”

Advertisement

He had another microdiscectomy Sept. 16 and then he revealed Oct. 30 another “procedure,” which he said was in the same spot. Asked the degree to which he can function, Woods said, “I walk. I walk and I walk some more.”

Woods said this was different from his four knee surgeries, even the worst one in 2008 after he won the U.S. Open at Torrey Pines for his 14th major. He had a reconstruction of his left knee and was told it would be about nine months before he could get back. Woods returned eight months later and won in his third start.

“For nerves, there are really no timetables and therein lies the tricky part of it because you can come back earlier or you can come back later. It just depends on how the nerve heals and how it settles,” he said.

Would he be surprised if he was simply a host at the Hero World Challenge a year from now? He couldn’t answer.

“So where is the light at the end of the tunnel? I don’t know so that’s been hard,” Woods said. “I had to reset the clock each day and OK, here we go. This is a new day and this is taken for what it is. I listen to my surgeon. I listen to my physios and we just take it day by day. Hopefully the day-by-day adds up to something positive soon.”

He agreed to be a vice captain under Davis Love III at the Ryder Cup next year, though Woods still wants to play. He said it’s been two months since he hit a golf ball – “a chip shot left handed” – and he passes most of his time playing video games.

Woods said he wants to play again and anything he accomplishes the rest of his career “will be gravy.”

But he sounded at peace with what he already has done – 79 career victories on the PGA Tour (second only to the 82 by Sam Snead), 14 majors (second to 18 by Jack Nicklaus), PGA Tour player of the year a record 11 times.


Only subscribers are eligible to post comments. Please subscribe or login first for digital access. Here’s why.

Use the form below to reset your password. When you've submitted your account email, we will send an email with a reset code.