Pain-free, well-rested Woods says ‘I’m loving life now’
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 Tuesday.
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 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 to be happy and healthy.
Woods reached a low point Memorial Day 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 15 miles from his home, with Woods asleep behind the wheel, the engine running and a blinker on.
Toxicology reports revealed Woods had two painkillers (Vicodin and Dilaudid), a sleep drug (Ambien), an anti-anxiety drug (Xanax) and the active ingredient for marijuana in his system. He went through an inpatient treatment program 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 realize 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 the Memorial Day 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 because I don’t have the nerve pain going down my leg. I don’t have my leg twitching all over the place. I don’t have these issues anymore.”
Woods hasn’t won since the 2013 Bridgestone Invitational, his 79th title on the PGA Tour, which 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-andstart schedule.