A little over a month ago Tiger Woods announced that he would be withdrawing his name from consideration for the US Ryder Cup team and taking 1-2 months off from golf to work on strengthening the muscles in his back.
Woods underwent surgery in March to repair a pinched nerve in his lower back and did not return to the PGA until the end of June, where he struggled at the Quicken Loans National at Congressional Country Club. Woods' return was perhaps rushed, as it was obvious his strength was not at all where it should have been and he missed the cut in three out of four events before calling it a season.
He has stayed true to the assertion that he would be staying away from golf and has not swung a club or hit any balls since August 8 - the day he missed the cut at the PGA Championship. He did not say when he would begin playing again and he hasn't made a decision on a new swing coach yet, but he plans to return to professional action at his World Challenge charity tournament that will take place from December 4-7.
He told reporters at a news conference Monday (promoting the World Challenge) that he has gotten his strength back by spending a lot of time in the gym and now plans to work to get his explosiveness back, which is the next phase of his training. Woods is still working to regain the strength he possessed prior to his back surgery because his premature return resulted in another back injury, but it was not related to the pinched nerve he underwent the procedure for. The back spasms he suffered at the WGC-Bridgestone were likely a result of the weak muscles around the surgically repaired area that hadn't fully regenerated.
The 38-year-old has 14 major victories, but hasn't earned one since the 2008 U.S. Open. Certainly not getting any younger, Woods' health and performance have been a major concern over the past few years, even eliciting comments out of Rory McIlroy, who said last week that Woods and Phil Mickelson are on the "last few holes" of their careers. But Woods took no offense to the comments because he knew McIlroy wasn't at all being malicious.
"I thought it was funny," said Woods, in this ESPN article. "I mean, Phil has less holes to play than I do, though. What is he, five years older than me or four? Yeah, so yeah, it's a reality, you know? We're all older."
But Woods' needs to capitalize before his aging fully takes over. He's looking to catch Jack Nicklaus' record of 18 major victories, but his efforts have been seriously derailed due to injuries. We'll see how he improved his body in a few months.
