Another lengthy layoff for Woods
TIGER WOODS is yet to start rehabilitation for a second back injury he had a month ago and faces another ‘‘tedious and long’’ process that suggests it might be a while before he competes again.
Woods last played at the Wyndham Champion on August 24 (NZT), where he tied for 10th for his best finish at a PGA Tour event in nearly two years.
In a surprise announcement on September 19, the former world No.1 said he had a second back surgery after doctors during a routine check discovered a fragmented disc pinching a nerve. Woods had his first surgery just before the 2014 Masters and missed nearly three months. He said later he came back too early.
‘‘Rehab will be soon, and it will be tedious and long,’’ Woods said at the Bridgestone America’s Golf Cup, an exhibition he was supposed to play with Matt Kuchar until the second surgery. ‘‘The last one, it took me awhile to get back. Some players on tour have done the same procedure and to be back pain-free it took them over a year.’’
Woods hasn’t won since the 2013 Bridgestone Invitational for his 79th career win on the PGA Tour, just three short of the record held by Sam Snead.
For most of his career, the record with which he was compared was Jack Nicklaus and his 18 professional majors. Woods won his 14th major at the 2008 US Open, and had reconstructive surgery on his left knee a week later.
Woods turn 40 in December. Nicklaus won only three of his 18 majors after he turned 40.
Woods, who dropped to No. 334 in the world rankings this week, has not given up on catching Nicklaus. He just figures he will have to play like Vijay Singh, who won 22 times (but only one major) in his 40s.
‘‘It’s something that I hope I will be able to do,’’ he said. ‘‘I want to play at an elite level with the new kids for a long, long time.’’
What might help this time around is that Woods said he won’t be changing his swing. After returning too early in 2014 from back surgery, he took the final three months off to get stronger and left his swing coach, hiring Chris Como as a consultant.
Woods doesn’t think he’s that far off from 2013, when he won five times and was PGA Tour player of the year.
‘‘But to achieve it, I need healthy again,’’ he said.
There was no timetable on when he would start rehabilitation or when he would return.
to be