I’m lucky to be alive. Someone upstairs was taking care of me
Record Sport’s in the room for Tiger’s return as he admits..
TIGER WOODS has admitted he is lucky to be alive following a horrific car crash in February.
The golfing superstar opened his heart on the crippling injuries he suffered when his motor careered off the road and which leave him in pain even when sits down.
Woods, 46, refused to speak about the crash itself but the 15-times Major champion did reveal he feared one of his legs would need to be amputated.
Thankfully Woods escaped that, but he admits his injuries from the crash near Los Angeles mean he will never again play golf full time.
He said: “I’m lucky to be alive and still have the limb.
“I’m very grateful someone upstairs was taking care of me – amputation was on the table. I don’t foresee this leg ever being what it used to be.
“The clock is ticking. I’m getting older. All that combined means a full schedule – and the recovery it would take to do that – no, I don’t have any desire to do that.
“But to ramp for a few events a year – as I alluded to yesterday like Mr Hogan did and he did a pretty good job at it – there’s no reason I can’t do that.”
Woods was speaking in the Bahamas ahead of the $3.5m Hero World Challenge and
Record Sport asked the triple Open champion if he was suffering pain as he spoke, to which he replied: “Yeah. My back hurts and my leg hurts.
“What gets me through it? Well, having a great support system, great friends, great people around me that are positive and upbeat, but it’s also the unfortunate part, experience.
“I’ve gone through tough procedures before and had to recover and having that past experience has helped.
“Just understanding the patience of timelines. When I blew out my ACL and broke my leg, it was, you’re out for nine months. Well, that’s kind of a bummer.
“Then back fusion surgeries, knee operations and all those different timelines, just understanding, having the patience within those timelines, how much can we push and how much we really can’t push. “You have to push until it hurts, but then you can’t go overboard, that’s the hard part.” Woods admitted he has come off long lay-offs before and won, which makes him feel he “knows the recipe” to recover and compete at a high-level on the PGA Tour – even in a limited fashion. He said: “I just have to get to a point where I feel comfortable enough where I can do that again.” But the big question remains – can Woods ever see himself winning again on tour. The answer was unequivocal as he added: “I have to prove it to myself at practice first.” But while much of the 40-minute interview was candid, Woods refused to speak about the day of the crash and what he can remember leading up to it. All he would say was: “All those have been answered in the investigation, so you can read all about that in the police report.” While he wasn’t able to play golf himself, Woods was able to play a part in son Charlie getting his game back on course. The talented 12-year-old was struggling to keep his scores respectable and Woods said: “I went to golf tournaments to watch him play, and I’m looking at some of these scores he’s shooting and I said, ‘How the hell are you shooting such high scores? I gotta go check this out’. “So I’d watch him play and he’s going along great, has one bad hole, loses his temper, that carries over to another shot and another shot and it compounds itself. “I said, ‘Son, I don’t care how mad you get. Your head could blow off for all I care just as long as you’re 100 per cent committed to the next shot. That’s all that matters. That next shot should be the most important shot in your life. It should be more important than breathing. Once you understand that you’ll get better.’ “And as the rounds went on through the summer, he’s gotten so much better.”