Woods ‘winging it’ on his latest return after spinal surgery
Humiliating police video still a painful memory 14-time major winner to compete after 10 months
Tiger Woods has revealed he cannot yet bear to watch the infamous video of his slurred, mumbling police interview after he was arrested for driving under the influence and admitted he now finds it “hard to imagine the way I was living”.
The 14-time major winner makes his first competitive appearance in 10 months at the Hero World Challenge, which begins in the Bahamas tomorrow, and is clearly relishing his return after fusion spinal surgery in April. During a candid press conference – in which, for the first time he talked about his humiliating episode in May when he was found by police slumped over his steering wheel – the 42-year-old spoke of his determination to prove that he is more than a “Youtube golfer”.
If he manages to do so, it will be one of the great sporting comebacks of all time, particularly considering where he was six months ago, as he wrestled with crippling pain and struggled with the fear that his career was over. The low point came in that Florida lay-by.
After being detained overnight, toxicology reports revealed he had two painkillers, a sleep drug and the active ingredient for marijuana in his system. He went through a treatment programme to deal with prescription medication and now claims to be completely clean.
“I was trying to go away from the pain and trying to sleep”, Woods explained. “I’ve come out the other side and I feel fantastic. Now that I’m feeling the way I’m feeling, it’s just hard to imagine 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.”
Woods insists he is now painfree; but then he said the same at this 18-man invitational event last year. Indeed, Woods even insisted that his back was not a problem two events later, after limping up the 18th after a round of the Dubai Desert Classic in February. The next day, Woods withdrew.
“I’m winging this,” he said. “I don’t have any pain any more in my back but I do have some stiffness. Like ‘D’uh’, it’s fused. So, just give me a little bit of time. Yeah, I would like to say I’m here to win the thing like I always did but I don’t know my body yet. I don’t know what I can and can’t do. There’s no one out there I could turn to to ask what it’s like when you’re going at it as hard as I am. There is no one because the average age for this fusion is 58 years old.
“This surgery was about quality of life, because I didn’t really have much. The neatest thing for me is to be able to get out of bed and I can grab a club and not use it as a crutch. My kids think I’m a Youtube golfer. I want them to come to a few events, I want them to feel the rush and see me in contention.”