Tiger Woods steps up to the podium. Tiger Woods says a few sentences to reporters. Tiger Woods is now retiring?
No, that's just what everyone is suggesting. Woods merely told the media that he is unsure when he'll return to the PGA Tour this season after undergoing two procedures on his back within the past couple of months.
When asked how much longer his rehab would take or when the next time he'd be able to swing a golf club, here's what he had to say at a news conference before his annual Hero World Challenge:
"I have no answer for that, and neither does my surgeon. There is no timetable, so that's the hardest part for me. There's really nothing I can look forward to, nothing I can build towards."
The first procedure he underwent was to remove a small disc fragment that was pinching his nerve.
"For nerves, there are really no timetables, and therein lies the tricky part because you can come back earlier or you can come back later, it just depends on how the nerve heals and how it settles."
All of this should come as no secret considering his status for an expedited return seemed fairly grim about a month ago when he underwent his second back surgery to relieve discomfort in the same area. His surgeon, Dr. Charles Rich, said he expects Woods to make a full recovery.
People, this is back surgery. Even the smallest of procedures on the back can require a long recovery. It's also probable Woods' medical team is erring on the side of caution since the 39-year-old isn't getting any younger and his body has been particularly fragile in recent years.
Woods already rushed back from his first back surgery in March of 2014 and that didn't get him awfully far. He then played through back pain for most of the 2014-2015 season, which was the second-worst of his career (2013-2014 was his least successful campaign).
Tiger needs to rest his body. He is not going to retire just four majors short of tying Jack Nicklaus' all-time record. The man was, without question, the most dominant golfer on the planet for a long stretch of time and his run was arguably the most prominent in PGA Tour history.
These past two seasons have been by far the worst of his career and a lot of it had to do with his back. Woods won't make the same mistake three times in a row. He's going to rest until his health is fully restored. Then he'll get back on the PGA Tour and chase history.
