Even before horrific accident, Tiger’s golfing future was wildly uncertain
After a fifth back surgery in December, fans of Tiger Woods were unsure of when they’d see the 15-time major champion back in action on the golf course.
While hosting last week’s Genesis Invitational at Riviera Country Club in Pacific Palisades, California, Woods joined Jim Nantz during Sunday’s broadcast and gave hope that he’d play at the Masters in seven weeks time.
“God I hope so. I’ve got to get there first,” Woods said of playing at Augusta National with a chuckle. “A lot of it is based on my surgeons and doctors and therapist and making sure I do it correctly. This is the only back I’ve got, I don’t have much more wiggle room left.”
Those hopes were dashed on Tuesday when news broke that Woods was involved in a single-car rollover accident in Ranchos Palos Verdes, California, at 7 a.m. PT. Woods’s vehicle sustained major damage, but an LA County Fire Department spokesperson classified Woods’ injuries as “severe but not life-threatening.”
Woods was pried from the wreckage by rescue crews and rushed by ambulance from the scene of the Tuesday morning crash outside Los Angeles to nearby Harbor-UCLA Medical Center suffering what his agent described as “multiple leg injuries.”
A statement posted on Woods’s official Twitter account on Tuesday night said he had undergone a “long surgical procedure” to his lower right leg and ankle and was “awake, responsive and recovering in his hospital room.”
Los Angeles County Sheriff’s deputies responding to the wreck found no immediate indication that Woods had been under the influence of alcohol or drugs before losing control of his vehicle.
Sheriff Alex Villanueva, however, said the golf star, who was “lucid” following the accident, appeared to have been going faster than normal for a downhill, curving stretch of road known by locals to be hazardous.
Woods is the only modern professional to win all four major golf titles in succession, taking the US Open, British Open and PGA Championship in 2000 and the Masters title in 2001. He held the top spot in golf’s world rankings for a record total of 683 weeks, winning 14 major titles from 1997 to 2008. His 15 major titles stand second only to the record 18 won by Jack Nicklaus.
So what does this all mean for his future prospects on the course? Nothing good.
The 82-time winner on the PGA Tour played in just nine official events in 2020 and had one top-10 – a tie for ninth in the Farmers Insurance Open, his first event of the year. The last time Woods competed was in December, where he teamed up with his son, Charlie, at the PNC Championship, an annual event featuring two-player teams comprised players and a family member.
Following his December microdiscectomy surgery after the PNC Championship, a statement from Woods’s Twitter account said, “I look forward to begin training and am focused on getting back on Tour.”
Woods, 45, said on Sunday he didn’t have any concrete plans to return to competition, and that his schedule was dependent on how his body continued to recover from yet another surgery.
He has had four surgeries on his left knee, and first had microdiscectomy surgery on his back in March 2014, then had two similar procedures in the fall of 2015. In April of 2017, he had an anterior lumbar interbody fusion surgery. (USA Today/TNS)
Rocket attacks on US forces and facilities are increasing in Iraq. Iran is likely behind them, but the US doesn’t want to raise tensions with Tehran and portrays any response as playing into Iran’s hands.
The US is also eyeing the return of diplomats after the Trump administration withdrew staff from the US Embassy in Baghdad and threatened to close it between September and December 2020.
This is an escalation, but it is not unprecedented. There has been an uptick in threats and attacks against the US in Iraq since 2018. This increased rapidly in May 2019, and by December of that year there were numerous attacks on bases where US forces were located.
The Trump administration responded by consolidating bases and moving troops to the Kurdish Region, an autonomous area in northern Iraq, and closing other facilities.
Pro-Iranian militias are likely behind the three recent attacks. The way Iran operates in Iraq is complex. Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Quds Force members speak to the large pro-Iranian Shi’ite militias. The militias are all part of the large Hashd al-Shaabi, or PMU, a paramilitary force that is part of Iraq’s security forces.
Beginning last spring, after the US killed Kataib Hezbollah’s leader and targeted these groups for sanctions, several new groups emerged. These were cutouts or fake groups that provide a cover and plausible deniability for Iran.
The types of munitions used in these attacks are almost always linked to Iran. The notion that ISIS could be responsible is generally discounted because it uses different methods. This means the three attacks by Iran in a week are likely intended to see whether the US administration will retaliate. The US says it has not determined who is responsible.
It is important to note that even if the US does identify a group, it may not be able or willing to link it directly to Iranian handlers. This doesn’t mean there is no intelligence to indicate that Iran ordered these attacks. There are ways to collect such intelligence, depending on how Iran may guide the attacks.
Little is known about how Iran runs its network of agents and militias in Iraq. That the attacks since May 2019 are almost identical, using the same munitions and with the culprits melting away after abandoning the vehicles where the rocket launchers were located, points to a hand that is state-guided. This is because random small militias operating on their own would do it differently. Each would have its own method, and mistakes would be made.
Launchers for 107-mm. rockets aimed exactly at the right location are not easy to target consistently. Yet the rockets rarely slam into civilian buildings. This isn’t always the case. In Erbil on February 15, some rockets did hit civilian areas. In Baghdad, civilians have been harmed. But the evidence shows that rockets rarely are fired in a wild manner or totally miss their target.
The likely reason culprits are never found for the rocket attacks is that it is in no one’s interest to find them. Iraq’s government doesn’t want to catch a pro-Iranian rocket team that is linked to the highest levels of a major political party. It doesn’t want to acknowledge that men on the government payroll may be involved.
US Central Command is not tasked with tracking these attacks back to their source. US soldiers have been targeted since 2003 by Iran, and many hundreds have been killed and wounded. But the US does not retaliate.
The US agencies tasked with finding the culprits, tracking them or listening in on them are the same agencies that don’t reveal what they know to the public. Instead, they put their information into a report or a presidential daily brief, and the president and key advisers discuss the efficacy of naming the culprits.
The Trump administration held Iran responsible for proxy attacks. But it was unwilling or unable to produce an exact timeline and show how rocket attacks are organized and ordered. This wasn’t due to lack of data points; there were weekly attacks in some months.
It now appears the attacks are increasing. Iran wants to see how the US will respond. Tehran also knows NATO plans to send thousands of forces to Iraq.
Iran says it could enrich uranium to 60%. The US is also discussing detained Americans in Iran. The US is downplaying Iranian rhetoric. The US also wants a fresh start with Iraq.
Over the weekend, US soldiers in Erbil showed journalists around the damaged areas of the base where rockets fell near the airport.
The timing of the attacks is clear. Iran wants to show the US that its forces are not safe in the Kurdistan Region, an area that is usually safe and stable.
It also wants to hit at the embassy, likely because it heard the US might have its diplomats return to work there. It also may aim at Balad Air Base to keep NATO from returning.