Another operation on his troublesome spine casts doubt on Tiger Woods’ playing future.
Another operation on his troublesome spine casts fresh doubt on Tiger Woods’ playing future.
Not long ago, it would have been a big story; now it’s a space-filler, barely noticed, largely unremarked. Tiger Woods, who once bestrode the golfing world like a colossus, has had another back operation and will be out of action for at least six months.
We’ve lost count of the number of comebacks that have ended like this, with a terse medical bulletin. American golf writer Kyle Porter captured the “not with a bang but a whimper” career trajectory in a brutal but factual tweet: “Since the start of 2014 … Tiger Woods top 25 finishes: 4. Tiger Woods back surgeries: 4.”
The latest comeback began in the Bahamas in December, accompanied by the usual upbeat babble: “I’m feeling great, I’m feeling strong,
I’m excited to be back.” Woods’ practice buddies assured a sceptical media that he was “flushing it” on the driving range. He finished 15th in a strong field of 18 and indicated afterwards that he’d play a full tournament schedule in 2017, having made the mistake of competing too selectively on his returns from previous lay-offs.
In January, he played his first US PGA event in 18 months at the Torrey Pines course in San Diego, the scene of many triumphs. He didn’t make the cut. He then lined up at a tournament in Dubai, shooting 77 in the opening round before withdrawing because of back pain. There the comeback ended: after seven competitive rounds of golf, it was back to the operating theatre to have what his agent described as the procedure you undergo “when you’ve tried everything else”.
The narrative is now so well established that it’s easy to assume Woods has been in inexorable decline since his life was derailed by scandal in late 2009, and that his reappearances have been comebacks in name only, rather than in the sense of resembling the player he used to be.
That’s not quite the case: although he went 107 weeks without winning a tournament after his post-disgrace hiatus, in 2012/13 he played 35 tour- naments, making 33 cuts, with eight wins and 17 top-10 finishes. In the process, he propelled himself from 128th to first on the money-winners list and regained the No 1 world ranking. (He’s now 808th.)
This achievement prompted Nike to run an ad campaign on the theme of “Winning takes care of everything”, which predictably outraged those who believe Woods should go through life wearing the Mark of Cain for adul
terously trifling with the affections of a chorus line of cocktail waitresses and porn stars.
Since then, it’s been all downhill. “Never write off a champion” is an old sporting adage, but the latest announcement had an air of resignation. Although Team Woods is notorious for applying a Pollyanna-ish gloss, the emphasis was on restoring his quality of life rather than his world ranking.
Woods is 41. Jack Nicklaus won the Masters at 46; Tom Watson was a 2.4m putt away from winning the British Open at 59. At 57, Fred Couples was up with the leaders for much of this year’s Masters, which ended in a shoot-out between Spaniard Sergio Garcia (37) and 36-year-old Englishman Justin Rose.
Karma has had its way with
Woods – the great goal of surpassing Nicklaus’s record of 18 majors is now a pipe dream – and only the haters would begrudge him a golden twilight, à la Roger Federer. But there’s a growing sense that even if his body was up to it, he has been overtaken by a generation of power-hitting athletes for whom he was the prototype and the inspiration.
That news snippet may have been the beginning of the end. Or it may be even closer than that.
Karma has had its way with Woods and only the haters would begrudge him a golden twilight.