Pain-free Woods eager to test his game on
Tiger Woods says he is on the “other side” of too many years relying on pain medication to cope with his back surgeries, which led to his arrest on a DUI charge six months ago that he attributed to a bad mix of prescription drugs.
“I’m loving life now,” he said yesterday.
Woods is making yet another return to competition this week at the Hero World Challenge, an 18-man event with no cut at Albany Golf Club. It’s his first tournament in 10 months and his first time competing since fusion surgery in April, the fourth operation on his back.
Early indications are that Woods is in a much better spot than when he returned a year ago in the Bahamas. According to those who played with him in recent weeks, his swing looks faster and more fluid, and Woods appears happy and healthy.
Woods reached a low point in June when he was arrested in the middle of the night after Florida police found his car parked awkwardly on the side of the road about 25km from his home, with Woods asleep behind the wheel, the engine running and an indicator on.
Toxicology reports revealed that Woods had two painkillers, a sleep drug, an anti-anxiety drug and the active ingredient for marijuana in his system. He went through an inpatient treatment programme to deal with prescription medication, and last month pleaded guilty to a reckless driving charge that allowed him to avoid jail time.
“I’ve come out the other side and I feel fantastic,” Woods said. “A lot of friends have helped me. I didn’t realise how bad my back was. Now that I’m feeling the way I’m feeling, it’s just hard to imagine that I was living the way I was living with my foot not working, my leg not working and then the hours of not being able to sleep at all because of the pain.”
Woods attributed his arrest to “trying to go away from the pain”.
“I was trying to sleep, which I hadn’t done in a very long time because of the things I’ve been dealing with,” he said. “So as my back improved, I’ve been able to start sleeping again.”
Woods hasn’t won since the 2013 Bridgestone Invitational, his 79th title on the PGA Tour that leaves him three short of tying Sam Snead’s record. That might have been the last time he had reasonable health.
There were small signs of back pain a week later at the PGA Championship, and what followed were three surgeries and a stop-and-start